Man to be sentenced this week in Violi case

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Robert Scott Froberg

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Morgan Violi

The man who admitted guilt in the 1996 abduction and killing of Morgan Violi will be sentenced Monday in Bowling Green.

Both prosecuting and defense attorneys have requested through court filings that U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers follow through on a plea agreement calling for Robert Scott Froberg, 61, to be sentenced to life in prison.

Froberg pleaded guilty in July to a count of kidnapping resulting in death.

According to authorities, Froberg abducted 7-year-old Morgan from a parking lot at The Colony apartment complex on Shive Lane on July 24, 1996.

Police at the time were able to get a description of the kidnapper and the van that he drove, and also learned that a friend who was with Morgan was nearly abducted, but was able to get away.

The van was found abandoned on July 27, 1996, in the parking lot of a truck stop in Williamson County, Tennessee, and Morgan’s body was found Oct. 20, 1996 in a wooded area in White House, Tennessee.

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DNA testing on hairs found in the van led to the discovery of a DNA profile matching Froberg’s, and earlier this year Froberg confessed to abducting Morgan and using a handkerchief to strangle her.

Froberg then stripped Morgan’s clothing and discarded her body, according to law enforcement, who learned that Froberg was an escaped prisoner from facilities in Alabama and Pennsylvania at the time of the abduction and that the van he was driving had been stolen from Ohio.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Oct. 21, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Butler said that imposing a life sentence will bring an end to the legal proceedings and represents an appropriate punishment.

“For thirty years, Morgan’s family and friends lived with their heartbreak and the anxiety of an unknown terror that robbed them of Morgan,” Butler said in the memorandum. “Morgan’s father suffered the additional indignity of being falsely accused of having a role in Morgan’s disappearance. Parents throughout southcentral Kentucky parented differently based upon a nagging fear and anxiety that their child could be the next Morgan Violi…the severity of life-changing ramifications stemming from Froberg’s crime cannot be overstated.”

The offense to which Froberg pleaded guilty carries statutory penalties of either life in prison or the death penalty.

There is no parole in the federal prison system, and Butler said in the filing that the protracted litigation process in a death penalty case, typically marked by several appeals, was contrary to the wishes of Morgan’s family and “would have prevented the legal chapter of this nightmare from closing expeditiously.”

Like other convicted federal defendants, Froberg underwent a presentencing investigation by the federal Probation and Parole department, giving a detailed interview about his life history and background so that a judge has as much information as possible to determine an appropriate sentence.

While the report from that investigation is sealed, some details have come out in filings from Butler and federal public defender Pat Bouldin, Froberg’s attorney.

According to Butler’s sentencing memorandum, Froberg “apparently had an idyllic childhood,” raised with his sister by a stay-at-home mother and a father who served in the U.S. Air Force.

Froberg reportedly described his family as close and caring for one another.

“Despite these advantages, Froberg chose to live a life of destruction and crime,” Butler stated in his memorandum, which detailed an armed robbery Froberg committed as a juvenile in Indianapolis, a conviction at age 19 for grand theft auto in Florida and another armed robbery conviction in Alabama at age 24.

The crime in Alabama led to a 40-year prison sentence for Froberg, which is what he was serving when he escaped in 1996 and made his way to Pennsylvania, where he was then arrested on suspicion of attempting to abduct a child.

Froberg escaped from a Pennsylvania jail and was still at large when Morgan was abducted.

“Beginning as a teenager, Froberg left nothing but terror and violence in his wake,” Butler’s memorandum said. “The United States is unaware of a single redeeming contribution that Froberg has made to society. While life in prison is an incredibly harsh sentence, it is hard to envision someone more deserving of spending every last day of their life in federal prison than Robert Scott Froberg.”

Bouldin’s sentencing memorandum, filed on Oct. 22, noted that Froberg left school in ninth grade and earned a GED while in custody, and has struggled with substance abuse since age 13, completing treatment programs while incarcerated.

Froberg suffered a foot injury from a gunshot wound in 1988, has chronic pain from a hip replacement and also has chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

At court proceedings, Froberg has been brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair.

“(Froberg) has been diagnosed with depression, and attempted suicide by cutting his arms after learning of this investigation,” Bouldin stated in his memorandum.

Bouldin has asked that Froberg serve out his sentence at a medical facility within the federal Bureau of Prisons due to his age and medical problems.

“The offense is grave, and Mr. Froberg does not minimize it,” Bouldin said in his filing. “He has admitted his conduct, pleaded guilty quickly and is truly remorseful for his actions.”