River Forest-Oak Park community stunned by Gaskill arrest

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The Gaskills house on Ashland Avenue in River Forest. | Cook County Assessor's Office

Updated: February 22, 2012 12:14PM

River Forest and Oak Park residents were still reeling this week from the news that a well-known community member had been arrested for sexual abuse.

Robert L. Gaskill, 63, of 601 Ashland Ave., was charged Saturday for allegedly sexually abusing two adolescent girls in his care. The registered foster parent is being held in lieu of a $50 million full cash bond. He faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.

As local police and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services continue to investigate, neighbors were taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Monday afternoon the Gaskills house stood dark. Neighbors said the large-frame house surrounded by a white picket fence was usually a very busy place. The Gaskills had four biological children, six adopted children and an estimated 75 foster children since the mid-1990s.

The neighbors, all of whom declined to be identified, expressed disbelief and sadness at the allegations lodged against Gaskill.

“I’m shocked. I’m stunned. I see him out and about with the kids all the time,” said one woman. “I think most of us think it’s got to be untrue.”

“Sad,” another woman said when asked her reaction. “He’s always been a nice man. Until I hear more, I’d rather not say anything else.”

Two woman talking on a front lawn several houses down from the Gaskills politely declined comment, saying they didn’t know any more than what they’d read on newspaper websites.

A man who knew Gaskill years ago through a Christian business group, and who also asked to remain anonymous, said Gaskill “always seemed nice.”

“It never would have crossed my mind,” he said of the abuse allegations against Gaskill.

Deputy Chief Craig Rutz called the news of Gaskill’s arrest “a tragedy for everybody.”

“This is a disruptive force in the community,” Rutz said. “He was well liked and well respected in the community.”

Rutz declined to release any further details, citing the ongoing and wide-ranging criminal investigation.

“There’s not much we can say right now,” he said.

It is likely prosecutors would seek a formal indictment through a grand jury, several police sources said.

“His whole circle of activity is being investigated,” Rutz said, noting Gaskill’s involvement in youth sports as well as foster parenting and social service agencies. He said River Forest police have sought help with that effort.

“Our investigators have reached out for assistance from other law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Five children living in the Gaskill home have been removed by the state, DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe confirmed Monday.

“The three adopted children and two foster children there have been removed and are in separate homes,” Marlowe said.

The agency has begun an investigation into Gaskill, who has not previously been the subject of any DCFS investigation, Marlowe said.

David Anderson, executive director of Lydia House, the Chicago residential home for abused adolescents where Gaskill was employed, issued a brief press release Tuesday.

“Lydia Home was deeply saddened to learn of the charges filed against Mr. Rob Gaskill,” Anderson said. “Our hearts go out to the alleged victims and the Gaskill family.”

He said that Gaskill, who was employed part-time as a marketing director “at an off-site location” since last May, has been placed on leave.

At River Forest District 90, where according to sources the Gaskill children attended school, officials declined to comment.

Oak Park-River Forest High School District 200 spokeswoman Kay Foran said she could not confirm whether any Gaskill children attended OPRF. She couldn’t comment further on the situation except to say the high school “will cooperate with police in anyway deemed appropriate.”

News of Gaskill’s arrest has apparently spread quickly.

Ray Pritchard, the former pastor of Oak Park Calvary Memorial Church where the Gaskills were once members and had close ties to Pritchard, had heard of the arrest. He and his wife, Marlene, now live in Mississippi. While Ray Pritchard was traveling Monday, his wife said had received an email about the news over the weekend.

“I don’t believe he’d want to speak on that,” Marlene Pritchard said of her husband’s reaction to the allegations, “since we’ve been gone (from Oak Park) for a while.”