PORTLAND, Ore. — A math teacher at Hosford Middle School in Portland was arrested Friday morning and faces a felony charge of luring a minor, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported.
Craig Douglas-Meyers, 38, was arrested at his home in Northeast Portland after a weeks-long investigation. He is currently being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center.
The investigation started July 18 when a detective in Yuba City, California, reached out to PPB's Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. The detective told PPB that as part of an undercover chat operation, the detective posed as a 13-year-old child and communicated with a Portland man, later identified as Douglas-Meyers. The conversations, initiated by Douglas-Meyers, were "sexual in nature and involved discussions on how to meet," PPB said.
"It wasn't just having a pleasant conversation online. It was the intended purpose of meeting up for a sexual relationship," said Trevor Tyler, a sergeant in charge of PPB's child-abuse team. "This was incredibly overt. It was, this is exactly what I intend to do once we meet up and then was very explicit about the intended relationship that they wanted to have."
PPB said due to the "brazen conversations with who he thought was a child, and his employment as a teacher," detectives believe there may be additional child victims. Portland police released a photo of Douglas-Meyers "in an effort to identify potential victims."
"This suspect we arrested today teaches 13-year-olds on a regular basis," Tyler said. "We don't know that they have done anything illegal or committed any offense with any of them, however it is incredibly concerning for us that he was choosing to surround himself with the very people he was seeking out to have a sexual relationship with."
Portland Public Schools said in a statement that it's fully cooperating with police. The district said it's not aware of any information that suggests any PPS students were impacted. Douglas-Meyers has been a teacher at Hosford Middle School since 2009, Tyler said.
According to police, after his arrest, Douglas-Meyers told detectives, "I haven't done anything wrong." He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Anyone with information about Douglas-Meyers or this case is asked to contact PPB Officer Aaron Rizzo at aaron.rizzo@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 24-803066. Those with information can also contact the SafeOregon tip line via text or phone at (844) 472-3367, by email at tip@safeoregon.com or download the SafeOregon app.