A 16-year-old boy was sexually abused in the Marion County Jail after being placed in a cell with a then 54-year-old registered sex offender deemed to be "predatory" by the State of Oregon.
It happened in 2010, but the case just recently came to light when Patrick Dale Deshaw was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Because the victim was a minor, records were never made public.
Not even today.
No official would talk with the Statesman Journal in any significant detail about why a teenager was jailed alone with a convicted sex predator, or how — or if — any jail protocol might have been changed after the attack.
Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Chris Baldridge said the sheriff's office learned of the sex abuse allegation in 2015. He said jail officials cooperated with an Oregon State Police's investigation.
Several sheriff's office officials, including Sheriff Jason Myers, met following the Statesman Journal's inquiry and declined to comment further on specifics of the case and referred questions to state police.
OSP officials refused to release, or discuss, their investigation into the attack and the operations at Marion County Jail, saying they couldn't because it includes reports of child abuse.
They referred questions to the Oregon Department of Human Services. Agency officials also declined to release information, saying the case remains sealed because it involved a minor.
But the 16-year-old had been arrested for sodomy and was tried and convicted as an adult. That's why he was in the Marion County Jail and not a youth correctional facility.
When asked about why the teen was placed in the cell with Deshaw, sheriff's officials would only state that under Oregon law, 16- and 17-year-old inmates charged with Measure 11 offenses may be housed in adult correctional facilities while their court proceedings are underway.
Baldridge said: "Our current practice is to house these offenders at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Facility" even if they are charged as an adult.
Abuse described during trial
Most details of what happened that day eight years ago remain secret, along with the OSP's investigation and findings into whether jail procedures were properly followed, if mistakes were made or if changes were recommended.
Following Deshaw's two-day trial, a Marion County jury found him guilty of four counts of second-degree sexual abuse for subjecting the minor to deviate sexual intercourse while the pair were incarcerated.
He was sentenced to nine years and seven months in prison.
During the trial, prosecutor Alexandra Overton said the abuse happened when the victim and Deshaw were cellmates at the jail. The victim was young, afraid and knew his status as a sex offender meant he had a target on his back, she told the court.
When Deshaw ordered him to disrobe and engage in oral sex with him, the victim said he felt required to because of prison politics and culture.
According to the testimony of a Marion County sheriff's deputy, the victim was overheard yelling, "Ouch! Ouch!" while in the cell with Deshaw.
The victim told the deputy it was just "horseplay," but refused to look him in the eyes. The deputy testified that he believed something more sinister was at play.
Overton said at the time, the victim didn't know whether what was happening was right or wrong. But as time passed and the trauma of the abuse remained, he realized he "couldn't deal with it any longer."
He reported the abuse while incarcerated in 2015 at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility
He drew investigators a drawing of the cell where the abuse happened and said his attacker's name was "Patrick."
It didn't take detectives long to figure out that Deshaw, a convicted sex offender known to target young boys, was the "Patrick" he was referring to.
When contacted by an OSP detective, Deshaw denied the abuse but said he remembered the teen. He described their connection as "a friendship — almost like a mentorship — to teach him how the ropes are when you're a sex offender in prison."
During closing arguments, Overton said Deshaw targeted the teen, a vulnerable victim, and victimized him repeatedly in their jail cell.
"And as much as we don't like sex offenders, he did not deserve that," she said. "It's important to not only protect the people in our communities here but also the communities in our institutions."
The jury returned a unanimous verdict: Guilty on all counts.
Overton argued for four consecutive sentences due to Deshaw's criminal history and facts of the case.
"At the time, the defendant was labeled as a sexual predator," she said. "The jail did know that."
She added that Deshaw had already been warned about having sexual contact with people in jail. The jail even took a report of another alleged incident of sexual abuse by Deshaw of a teenager in the correctional facility, but charges were never filed.
Deshaw was booked in April of 2010 and remained in the jail another year after being sentenced for criminal mischief.
Sheriff's officials did not respond in time for comment about whether they investigated if Deshaw sexually abused anyone else during his time at the Marion County Jail.
Baldridge told the Statesman Journal the sheriff's office is constantly re-evaluating its jail policies as laws and best practices change.
It is not uncommon for inmates with similar risk classifications and facing similar charges to be housed together, he said.
Criminal history was extensive
Deshaw was first convicted in In 1985 of assault and sexual abuse in Clackamas County. He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to have no contact with male and female minors.
Five years later, he was convicted of two counts of second-degree sodomy and one count of first-degree sexual abuse in two separate Marion County criminal cases.
A Marion County judge in 1990 ordered that his sentences be served consecutively, incarcerating him for a total of 15 years and eight months.
He was ordered to register as a sex offender upon his release. According to the Oregon Sex Offender Registry, Deshaw targeted boys known to him. His victims were usually between the ages of 6 and 10 years old. During one incident, he gave a victim alcohol and threatened him with a knife.
After his release from prison, Deshaw had repeated run-ins with police. He was convicted of methamphetamine possession in 2006, criminal mischief and menacing in 2009, disorderly conduct in 2017 and failing to register as a sex offender in 2018.
According to court records, one of Deshaw's neighbors confronted him while he was living on the 1000 block of Howard Street SE. The neighbor told police she knew Deshaw was a registered sex offender and had caught him approaching her young children.
After the neighbor confronted him, Deshaw returned to her home multiple times, threatening to kill her family and rape her son. Deshaw told police he was drunk and high on methamphetamine when he threatened the neighbors and that he only did it because they were his drug dealers and he did not approve that they were selling meth while children were in the house.
During this month's trial, Overton, the Marion County prosecutor, said the jail abuse affected the victim greatly and will trouble him for the rest of his life.
"Because (Deshaw) has continued to victimize and prey on young people, we would ask that he serve the maximum sentence ... because that's what he deserves," she said.
Marion County Judge Mary Mertens James ordered that Deshaw's sentences be served consecutively.
James said Deshaw's crimes against children were incomprehensible. She added that she hopes the Department of Corrections will be more careful than Marion County Jail officials when it comes to housing him.
"It is the court's hope that your days of being a sexual predator are at an end," the judge said.
For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth
