Foster parent sexually abused girl

Confesses to pastor, then the police

By Sanne Specht
Mail Tribune
A Rogue River man confessed his sins to his pastor before turning himself over to authorities and pleading guilty to sexually abusing a foster child living in his group home.

The confession by David Richard Cosby, 60, who pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree sex abuse, prompted police to seek out other foster children he cared for, to see if they also may have been abused.

Judge Lorenzo Mejia sentenced Cosby on Sept. 23 to state prison to serve the mandatory 75-month sentence for each offense. However, per a plea agreement, the judge allowed the sentences to run concurrently, said David Orr, a Jackson County deputy district attorney.

Cosby and his wife, Terry Cosby, have provided both foster care and an adoptive home for many physically and mentally challenged children for the past 15 years in California and Oregon, he said.

At the time of the abuse, the Cosbys currently had a total of seven medically, mentally or emotionally fragile children at their Rogue River home. The young girl Cosby molested was 12-years old at the time of the abuse, said Oregon State Police Detective Tom Harrison.

The Cosbys were attempting to adopt the victim and her younger sister. The victim had already been removed from one home after being sexually abused there, he added.

"(Cosby) knew everything about her past," Harrison said. "That was a part of the sickness, that he knew her history and he'd use it to manipulate her like that."

Both Orr and Harrison say the wife, Terry Cosby, was unaware of her husband's actions.

"The poor wife," said Orr. "She had no idea. She did everything right."

One of the Cosbys' medically fragile adopted daughters died about a year and a half ago. Another child has required frequent hospitalization. While Terry Cosby was spending time at the sick child's hospital bedside, David Cosby was moving forward with his molestation of the victim, Harrison said.

When another of the Cosbys' adopted children disclosed seeing inappropriate contact between David Cosby and the victim, Terry Cosby took action. When the girl confirmed the abuse, Terry Cosby confronted her husband immediately, Harrison said.

"(Terry Cosby) was 100 percent protective (of the victim) and held (David Cosby) fully accountable," said Harrison.

David Cosby admitted to his wife that he'd had sexually abused his would-be daughter, left the house and went to visit his pastor, he said.

"The pastor sat with Mr. Cosby while he called (Jackson County's child protective services)," Harrison said. "He made a full confession."

David Cosby admitted he deliberately engaged in victim grooming behaviors as he continued to blur the lines between appropriate and inappropriate contact, he said.

"He admitted he did not know where it would stop," Harrison said.

Because of David Cosby's control and contact of special needs children over the past 15 years, police attempted to contact every child who lived with the Cosbys and may also have been a victim, he said.

"He took care of a lot of drug-addicted young females in California," said Harrison, adding those children are at high risk of becoming abuse victims of adults. Many already have been "overexposed and over-sexualized," he said.

All the children in Oregon have been interviewed and all say there was no abuse from Cosby. About 75 percent of the California children, many of whom are now adults, have also been interviewed, Harrison said.

"We did not get any other disclosures (of abuse)," Harrison said.

Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 541-776-4497 or e-mail sspecht@mailtribune.com.