A former California mayor who groomed a 17-year-old foreign exchange student for months before sexually abusing her is going to prison.
Robert Brian Bassett, 58, was sentenced Wednesday to four years and four months behind bars after pleading no contest to three felony child-sex-abuse charges.
And prosecutors made one thing painfully clear, this was a betrayal of trust.
The teenager was living in Bassett’s Biggs home from April through November 2023 as a foreign exchange student, thousands of miles from her family. Bassett was supposed to be her host.
Prosecutors say he groomed her for months and sexually abused her multiple times while she was 17.
Bassett was also serving as mayor of Biggs at the time, a small Northern California town of roughly 2,000 people. Prosecutors cited the girl’s vulnerability, Bassett’s grooming and his abuse of her trust as aggravating factors, leading the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
The victim told the court that she continues to suffer from what happened — and from the knowledge that someone she trusted betrayed her.
The case began to unravel after Bassett was arrested July 9, when police served a search warrant at his Biggs home. Investigators eventually contacted the victim in her home country, where she disclosed the abuse.
Bassett served on the Biggs City Council and acted as the town’s mayor from 2022 through December 2024.
While he initially maintained his position on the council after stepping down as mayor, he ultimately resigned from the City Council in early 2025 amid a past extortion investigation.
Following a subsequent criminal investigation into actions during his mayoral term, Bassett reached a legal plea deal.
As part of this agreement, two additional felony charges were dropped.
He was sentenced to over four years in state prison, and after prison, Bassett will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
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