Robert Lookingbill is a Town Commissioner of Thurmont, Maryland. He remains listed as a commissioner despite his April arrest for sexual abuse of a minor. According to the Sheriff’s Office he is alleged to have inappropriately touched a child on the bus he was driving.
He was charged with Sex Abuse of a Minor, Third Degree Sex Offence, Fourth Degree Sex Office and Second Degree Assault. The first two are felonies.
Child Protective Services were first made aware of the incident and they contacted the Sheriff’s office. The child told officials he asked her to be the last off the bus and then touched her on her bottom. Lookingbill did not deny the touch but claimed it was like baseball players do. There is surveillance video of the incident which CPS and law enforcement would have reviewed before the arrest.
The Town Board has asked Lookingbill to step down but he remains on the board. He is on administrative leave from his other job as school bus driver.
- Frederick News Post: Thurmont Commissioner Lookingbill arrested, charged with sex abuse of minor
- Frederick County Sheriff’s Office: Thurmont Resident Arrested for Sex Abuse of a Minor
- WJZ News: Board calls for town commissioner to step down after child sex abuse charges as bus driver
![Police say bus driver's sex offense was pat on - Frederick News-Post, The (MD) - April 22, 2024 - page 1
April 22, 2024 | Frederick News-Post, The (MD) | Clara Niel
Police say video footage of a Thurmont town commissioner who was arrested Friday captured him patting a
12-year-old girl's butt while she was exiting the Frederick County Public Schools bus he was driving.
The girl immediately reported what happened to the school, which led to the investigation and arrest of
Robert Lookingbill, 71.
Lookingbill told police in charging documents that he didn't remember touching the girl inappropriately, and
that if he did, it was not intentional.
However, Frederick County Assistant State's Attorney Lindsey Carpenter argued during Lookingbill's bail
review on Monday that his actions were intentional, and even pre-planned, calling him "a predator to the
community."
After being held at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center over the weekend, Lookingbill was released
on his own recognizance on Monday, under the agreement that he will return for his next court date.
There is no new court date listed, online court records show.
One of Lookingbill's attorneys, Stacey Steinmetz, said she had no comment after the hearing.
Frederick County District Court Judge Earl Bartgis Jr. ordered Lookingbill to have no contact with the girl and
no contact with anyone under 18 years old.
Lookingbill was charged with sex abuse of a minor, third-degree sex offense, fourth-degree sex offense and
second-degree assault.
According to charging documents, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office became involved with the case in early
April after the Thurmont Police Department said they had a conflict of interest.
An FCPS spokesman said on Friday that the district suspended Lookingbill after it became aware of the
claims.
The incident is alleged to have happened on March 1, as the girl was getting off the bus to go to school,
charging documents say.
An adult was reported to have inappropriately touched a child, police said, and the suspect was a Thurmont
commissioner.
During a forensic interview with Child Protective Services, a 12-year-old girl said that one day, her bus driver,
identified as Lookingbill, asked her to be the last one off the bus.
The girl said she thought Lookingbill wanted to talk to her about something. She told her friend about it
during the bus ride, charging documents said.
When the bus arrived at the school, the girl went to Lookingbill, she said. Lookingbill told her to come closer
to him, then said goodbye and "rubbed his hand on her butt," the girl said in charging documents.
When the girl got off the bus, she told her friend, as well as a school principal and school counselor.
Police later obtained surveillance footage from the bus, which was time stamped on March 1 around 7:06
a.m.
Carpenter showed the video to Bartgis during Lookingbill's bail review hearing, but not to the public.
According to charging documents, the video showed several girls getting off the bus, followed by the 12-yearold
girl who reported the incident.
The girl looked at Lookingbill, who then turned to his right from where he was sitting on the driver's seat, the
video showed.
Lookingbill said something "unintelligible," charging documents say, and the girl turned to walk off the bus.
Then, Lookingbill said goodbye and "[L]et me give you a little tap right there" as he reached toward the girl
and under her backpack and tapped her buttocks with his hand, according to the video described in charging
documents.
Lookingbill withdrew his hand and the girl turned to look at him. Lookingbill smiled and bent closer to the girl
to say goodbye. She responded saying goodbye and got off the bus.
In mid-April, police went to interview Lookingbill at his home in Thurmont, charging documents said.
Lookingbill told police during the interview that he asked the girl to be last off the bus because he wanted to
talk about her misbehavior on the bus, like how she would put her feet up on the seats when he wanted to
keep the seats clean.
Lookingbill said that when the girl was last to get off the bus, he said "You know what" and the girl smiled at
him. He said he noticed another bus behind him, which meant he needed to drive away. He said goodbye to
the girl and called her "baby."
Lookingbill said to police that his supervisor told him that it was inappropriate to call the girl "baby." The
supervisor also told Lookingbill that there were claims he touched the girl's butt, charging documents say.
Lookingbill told police he did not remember doing so, but if he did, it was an accident. He also said he may
have touched her book bag.
He described the touching as "the way baseball players do," but since he is a driver and caretaker, he "did not
blame her for reporting it."
When the detective asked him if he ever touched any other students like that, he didn't answer, but said he
patted students on the back or rubbed their heads, charging documents said.
Lookingbill said he had been driving the girl on a bus since she was in second grade and knows that she is in
sixth grade.
During the bail review on Monday, Carpenter said the incident wasn't as severe as others, but it was clearly
preplanned.
Additionally, she said, Lookingbill kept notes that the girl wrote to him. In the notes, the girl would ask
Lookingbill for certain items at McDonald's, but he denied buying her any food. He said the girl was "silly and
would write him notes."
While those actions alone don't show anything nefarious, Carpenter said, it did show an effort to try to build
trust with the girl.
Additionally, the fact the girl reported it immediately showed how the touching made her feel, Carpenter said.
She asked Bartgis to keep Lookingbill held without bail.
Another one of Lookingbill's attorney, Margaret Teahan, asked for Lookingbill to be released.
"What is alleged is not something that merits holding him without bond," she told Bartgis.
Thurmont Mayor John Kinnaird said during an interview on Monday that he did not know if Lookingbill was
going to attend Tuesday's town meeting.
Kinnaird said he and the other commissioners have been working on what they want to say as a public
statement.
He said people need to be careful how they interact with children, even if they have good intentions. Kinnaird
said that he acts as Santa Claus every year and is always conscious of where his hands are, where a child is
sitting on his lap, and how he is interacting with children.
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Author/Byline: Clara Niel
