State Police Investigation Reveals Several Victims, Several in Authority Concerned about Rev. Bob Carlson's Alleged Sexual Abuse of Children
By Catherine Pegram
[with pdf] A report by the State Police into allegations of years of sexual abuse against by boys by prominent community leader Reverend Bob Carlson reveals several possible victims and several people in authority who questioned Carlson's behavior. In the end, no one ever pursued criminal action until an investigation was opened last fall, three days before Carlson jumped to his death from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. The 104-page report was released Wednesday. It includes interviews with people who say they were abused by Carlson and a therapist who reports to have counseled at least half a dozen victims. None of them are named in the report. Neither is the victim who says Carlson abused him as a child and that he sent a letter to authorities last fall that prompted the investigation. State police also interviewed a former Bangor Police officer, the former President of Husson University and a Penobscot County Sheriff's Deputy, all of whom had suspicions about Carlson's behavior, which spanned at least four decades. When the investigation was launched last fall, Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross told investigators he contacted Carlson, a long-time friend. Ross told State Police he wanted to let Carlson know about it because Carlson was on the jail's board of visitors and he would no longer be allowed access to the jail during the investigation. Three days after that Carlson committed suicide by drowning in the Penobscot River. Carlson was well-known in the Greater Bangor area as the founder and president of Penobscot Community Health Care, a chaplain at Husson College and a former jail administrator for the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office.
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