Skip to main contentProsecutors say Portland real-estate developer and Democratic Party activist Terry Bean engaged in sex with an underaged boy in 1979, providing the 16-year-old with alcohol and drugs. The teenager later tried to kill himself after Bean broke off the relationship, court records say.
The records were filed by prosecutors late Thursday in Lane County Circuit Court as part of an ongoing criminal case against Bean. Bean in November 2014 was charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and one count of sexual abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor, allegedly involving a 15-year-old boy.
Prosecutors say they wanted to introduce evidence of Bean's "prior bad
acts" dating back to 1979 into the current case to establish a pattern of sexual abuse by
Bean.
The events described in the filing are beyond the statue of limitations.
The filing comes a week after Bean asked a Lane County judge to have the criminal charges against him dismissed. The Eugene Register Guard reported earlier this week that Bean's
attorneys are seeking what's called a "civil compromise" to the criminal
charges against Bean. As part of the deal, Bean has reportedly reached
an agreement with his alleged victim in the current criminal case.
Prosecutors oppose a dismissal of the charges.
The filing also reveals new details about the current charges against Bean and his former boyfriend, Kiah Lawson.
A Lane County grand jury in November indicted Bean and Lawson on
charges that they'd had sex with a 15-year-old while in Eugene for a
University of Oregon football game in September 2013.
In 2014, WW reported on Bean's efforts to protect his reputation following the bitter breakup he'd had with Lawson. After the story ran, the Portland Police Bureau launched an investigation into allegations that Bean had sex with one or more minors.
Bean is a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization, and is prominent in state and national politics. He was the largest Oregon fundraiser for President Barack Obama's two victories and in the past visited Obama in the White House and flew with the president on Air Force One.
Prosecutors in Thursday's filing say they believe the allegations dating
back 36 years help establish a pattern of behavior by Bean. The filing
says the evidence shows Bean's "motive, opportunity, intent,
preparation, plan [and] knowledge" of illegal behavior.
The alleged victim from 1979 is now a 52-year-old doctor in California who says
the abuse occurred when Bean was 30 and he was 16. The victim
stepped forward in January because he wanted to help make sure Bean did
not "keep on abusing young boys." He expressed concern that Bean had the
money to escape the criminal charges with "minimal damage,"
the filings say.
The alleged victim says he met Bean at Bean's Eugene home in
June 1979. When it became clear Bean was interested in a sexual
relationship, the alleged victim told Bean that he was 16. He said Bean
knew he was a virgin when they first had sex in a Eugene apartment.
The filing says he and Bean eventually engaged in both oral and anal sex
in several encounters in 1979.
The filing also says Bean took him across state lines for sex, which prosecutors
say was a violation of the federal Mann Act.
The alleged victim says Bean broke off the relationship in December 1979
because, as Bean is quoted as saying in the documents, the teenager was
"lousy in bed." The alleged victim said that he ran into Bean at a
party a year later and was distraught when Bean snubbed him.
The filing says the alleged victim attempted suicide by taking an
overdose of painkillers. He reportedly was sent to a mental hospital
after that.
Updated at 8:55 pm with a statement from Bean's attorney, Derek Ashton:
WWeek 2015