Alachua County assistant attorney commits suicide

A week after being charged with attempted sexual battery, an Alachua County assistant attorney has committed suicide, authorities say.

On Aug. 24, Gainesville Police arrested Robert Livingston IV and charged him with attempting to sexually assault two minors.

Tuesday, deputies with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office found him dead in a canoe on Newnans Lake, said spokesman Art Forgey.

Livingston had shot himself, Forgey said.

The sheriff’s office received a call at about 10 a.m. Tuesday that a man who rented a canoe Monday night from Kate’s Fish Camp had not returned it, Forgey said.

About an hour later, deputies spotted Livingston’s body via helicopter.

Deputies searched the lake’s 5,800 acres by boat and air before finding him. The District Eight Medical Examiner’s Office will now conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

“We’ll go ahead and work the case and finish the case and close it,” Forgey said.

Livingston is listed as one of three assistant attorneys employed by the county, according to the county’s website. He had been placed on administrative leave with pay, said Mark Sexton, a county spokesman, in a statement issued Aug. 25.

“Mr. Livingston is at the beginning of a legal process,” according to the statement. “The County has taken the appropriate step based on the information we have available to us at this time.”

The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred in 2012, when Livingston, now 54, would walk into the room of a then-16-year-old girl as she slept and touch her breasts and genitals underneath her clothes, according to a police report.

This happened five or six times that year, according to the report. When the victim would wake up, Livingston would stop and leave.

The victim moved away from the house. But as time passed and another girl living in the house began to mature, the victim reported Livingston’s abuse to police in an attempt to prevent further abuse, according to the report.

Prior to telling police, she told Melissa Latham Livingston, Robert’s wife, about the abuse. Melissa, 63, then ordered Robert to install locks inside the rooms of the girl and her younger sister, according to the report.

But the locks lasted a few months before Robert removed them, according to the report.

Sometime in June, the girl, now 17, said someone had entered her room as she slept and began to touch her genitals underneath her clothes, according to the report.

At the time, the girl said, she thought she was dreaming but soon realized the incident was “too real to be fake,” according to the report.

When the girl stirred, the person stopped, and although the girl said she was too scared to open her eyes, she said she believed Livingston was the one who touched her, according to the report.

Afterward, the girl left her room to find Livingston standing in the kitchen with his wife, according to the report. The only other person inside the house was the girl’s younger sister, who was asleep on a couch.

Scared, the girl then tried to leave the house. When she did, however, Melissa bear hugged her in the home’s garage and called for her husband, according to the report.

She broke free and ran to the door, but Robert slammed it closed and pushed her to the ground, according to the report.

When she ran back to the garage, the couple cornered her. Melissa grabbed her around the neck and pushed her against a washing machine, according to the report. After the girl broke free, Robert pinned her to the ground, but the girl’s younger sister distracted him, giving her time to run to a neighbor’s house, where she could call police.

The altercation left the girl with bruises on her elbow and forearm, rug burns on her knees and scratches on her neck, according to the report.

Police arrested Robert Livingston and charged him with two counts of attempted sexual battery on a victim 12 years old or greater and child abuse without great bodily harm. Melissa was arrested and charged with one count of child abuse without great bodily harm.

Both were taken to the Alachua County Jail where Robert was released Thursday at 3:27 p.m. on a $50,000 bond and Melissa was released Thursday at 1:46 p.m. on a $10,000 bond.