PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Portland police arrested an Oregon Youth Authority supervisor once suspended for ignoring complaints about an employee convicted of juvenile sex abuse, accusing the supervisor in a prostitution case.
Floyd J. Mesteth, 50, of Canby was arrested July 12 in a theater parking lot in southeast Portland but the Multnomah County district attorney's office rejected the case for lack of evidence, prosecutor Fred Lenzer said.
The OYA has placed Mesteth on paid leave pending an internal inquiry, said Phil Lemman, the agency's deputy director.
The 19-year-old woman Mesteth was accused of picking up admitted to prostitution but couldn't be used as a witness because she'd be incriminating herself, Lenzer said.
Police reports said she claimed she knew Mesteth from a previous prostitution experience.
Mesteth said he was just going to give the woman a ride because he had seen her in the area and thought she was a nice girl.
Police said they had seen her in previous days on 82nd Avenue and suspected she was a prostitute.
Police said they saw her approach Mesteth's vehicle in the theater parking lot, lean into the open passenger window and get in. Police pulled the car over.
Mesteth joined the OYA as a parole supervisor in 1997.
Last year he was listed as among seven agency employees whose inaction may have allowed parole officer Michael Boyles to sexually abuse five boys he supervised.
Boyles, supervised by Mesteth from 1997-2002, was sentenced to 80 years in prison in 2005. His victims and their families have sued the state for millions of dollars.
The investigation concluded that Mesteth ignored a report that Boyles was, among other things, living with a young man he had once supervised.
Mesteth was suspended for 30 days without pay in the Boyles case.
