PORTLAND, Ore. – Yesterday afternoon, a 12-person jury rendered a guilty verdict against 54-year-old Carl Beiser for 55 charges involving sexual crimes against children and providing marijuana to minors. In this case, there were two victims.
Sentencing will be November 9, 2021 before Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Shelley Russell.
The investigation started in January of 2019, when the victims’ parents called the Department of Human Services to report that their two sons had disclosed sexual abuse. Law enforcement was notified immediately. The abuse took place for approximately a year and a half prior to disclosure.
Mr. Beiser has twice before been convicted of sexually abusing other children. During trial, the state proved Beiser unlawfully and knowingly engaged in sexual intercourse with the victims when they were under the age of 12 and under the age of 14, in the presence of another person for the other person to observe, and that he provided the underage victims with marijuana.
The jury unanimously convicted Beiser of nine counts of Sodomy in the First Degree, four counts of Sodomy in the Second Degree, 12 counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, six counts of Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First Degree, 12 counts of Using a Child in Display of Sexually Explicit Conduct, and 12 counts of Delivery of Marijuana to a Person Under the Age of 21.
The victims testified at trial that Beiser would threaten them and their loved ones with harm if they disclosed the abuse. The victims also testified that the emotional trauma of the abuse has had a profound impact on their lives.
“One victim testified that he was reluctant and scared to report the abuse because he was afraid of the defendant and also afraid of the process of reporting and involvement of the criminal justice system,” said Deputy District Attorney Amber Kinney, who prosecuted this case. “These are very real and legitimate fears. As a community we must strive to provide a system where victims can come forward, report abuse, and confront their abusers in the courtroom without fear.”
It was through the coordination, communication and collaboration of the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Team that this case was investigated and prosecuted.
The Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Team includes representatives from CARES Northwest, local law enforcement, public schools, hospitals, health departments, local mental health service providers, the Oregon Department of Human Services, and Multnomah County’s Department of Community Justice.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Team works with community partners to protect children who have been abused and neglected while ensuring that all practices are trauma-informed and mitigate the life-long consequences of child abuse. The team also handles child homicides, felony child physical abuse cases, felony child abandonment cases, custodial interference cases, and felony sex crimes where the victim is currently under the age of 18 and where the suspect is determined not to be a stranger to the child.
CARES Northwest, Multnomah County’s child abuse assessment center, is a community-based medical program for the assessment, treatment and prevention of child abuse. The organization is one of the largest child abuse assessment centers in the nation and serves more than 5,000 children annually.