An 84-year-old Clovis attorney has agreed to plead no contest to four felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor, resolving a case that began with eight charges and involved four of his own grandchildren. Robert Quinlan Bergstrom's plea came as a preliminary hearing that was expected to stretch across two days wrapped up in under two hours, after a teenage granddaughter took the stand and described years of abuse that started when she was just 4 or 5 years old.
According to The Fresno Bee, prosecutor Brian Exline dropped the remaining four counts and all sentencing enhancements as part of the agreement. Judge Alvin Harrell told Bergstrom directly that changing his plea would send him to prison for 12 years. Bergstrom responded simply, “I understand.” He was originally facing 80 years to life in prison on the full eight-count complaint, though an earlier report from GV Wire indicated prosecutors had at one point said he could face 32 years plus 45 years to life if convicted and given the maximum sentence.
A Hearing That Ended Almost As Soon As It Began
Exline had told the court he expected the preliminary hearing to take up to two days and called Bergstrom's 18-year-old granddaughter as his first witness. She testified that Bergstrom inappropriately touched her during weekly Friday night dinners at her grandparents' home, and that he warned her to keep quiet about what he was doing or else she would not be allowed to visit and see her grandmother. She disclosed the abuse in May 2024, the station's report notes, and at one point told the court, “I felt like I was going to get in trouble.”
Bergstrom was arrested in 2024 and had remained at the preliminary hearing phase of his case until the plea agreement was reached, per the same account. A preliminary hearing exists to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to proceed to a jury trial, but in this instance it ended abruptly once the plea deal was announced. Eric Schweitzer, Bergstrom's attorney, told the court his client had agreed to the plea bargain.
Three More Victims Identified
Investigators and family members ultimately identified at least three other victims beyond the granddaughter who testified, all of them also Bergstrom's grandchildren, the article notes. Court records cited by caselaw.findlaw.com confirm that the charges involved four different minors who are described as the petitioner's grandchildren. The scope of the case, spanning multiple children within one family over a period of years, was part of what drove prosecutors toward the original eight-count complaint before the plea narrowed it to four.
Registration and Future Risk
As part of the plea, Bergstrom must register as a sex offender, and the article notes that if he reoffends, he could be sent to a state hospital as a sexually violent predator. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Department 74, where Judge Harrell is expected to formally impose the 12-year term he described to Bergstrom during the hearing. No additional details about the full terms of the plea agreement beyond the dropped counts, the registration requirement, and the stated prison term have been made public.
