Skip to main content
Portland Police today arrested Terry Bean, the Portland real estate investor, political fundraiser and LGBTQ pioneer.
The arrest follows the arrest earlier today of Bean's former criminal attorney, Derek Ashton.
Both men were arrested in connection with a series of events that led to the dismissal of Lane County sex abuse charges against Bean in 2015.
A shton represented Bean in 2015 when Bean first faced sex abuse charges in Lane County relating to a 2013 incident in which Bean and another man, Kiah Lawson, allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene hotel. On the eve of a scheduled 2015 trial, the alleged victim, described in court records by his initials, M.S.G., refused to testify and so the case was dismissed.
Then, earlier this year, M.S.G. changed his mind after learning that his attorney, Lori Deveny, had allegedly stolen from him most of the $220,000 that Bean had agreed to pay him as a civil settlement. With M.S.G.'s cooperation, the Lane County District Attorney's office re-filed sex abuse charges against Bean and Lawson. Lawson went to trial first and was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.
Bean had been scheduled for trial next month but he recently hired a new criminal defense attorney, resulting in postponement until May.
Initially, Bean and Ashton proposed what is known as a "civil compromise" to the criminal charges against Bean: under Oregon law, he could have paid a financial settlement to resolve the criminal case against him. But Lane County Judge Charles Zennache refused to allow such a settlement. This year, Portland Police Bureau Det. Jeff Myers and Lane County Deputy District Attorney Erik Hasselman have described in court filings what they believe was a 2015 arrangement between Ashton and Deveney to improperly ensure that M.S.G didn't testify.
Bean's new criminal defense attorney, Steve Sherlag, said his client has done nothing wrong.
"While we are shocked at the new charge and the state's apparent shotgun approach, Mr. Bean unequivocally denies all of the state's claims and their attendant innuendo," Sherlag said. "Once Mr. Bean heard of the new charge, he cut a vacation short and rushed home to register his plea of not guilty. We look forward to exposing the full truth in open court and a full acquittal as justice requires."