Are You Listening Yet?

I'm not going away until this problem is solved! From today's Oregonian...

Man gets 25 years for sexual attack
Foster home - The disabled victim was in the care of the Gresham 18-year-old's mother
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian Staff

An 18-year-old Gresham man who sexually attacked a 37-year-old developmentally disabled woman was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison.

One investigator described John Jay Chapman as one of the "most troubling" sexual predators she's come across in many years.

In November, Chapman sexually attacked the woman, who has cerebral palsy and lived in his mother's state-licensed adult foster home. Chapman's mom, Marsha Chapman, called 9-1-1 after she found blood on the woman's sheets and the client refused to eat or drink. She was also running a temperature.

A surgeon removed an 11-inch toilet scrub handle from the woman's abdomen during surgery. He estimated it had been there for 24 to 48 hours. The woman's injuries caused a life-threatening infection.

Chapman was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and assault. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual penetration and assault two weeks ago in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Twice since last month, Chapman, who shook uncontrollably during his court appearances, backed out of pleading guilty. But after saying he'd changed his mind for a second time, Judge Julie Frantz called him into chambers and Chapman returned to the courtroom a while later and pleaded guilty.

During Tuesday's sentencing hearing, Chapman declined to speak.

Frantz told Chapman that what he did will affect the victim for the rest of her life.

"This is a horrific crime and you are paying a significant price in terms of the sentence," Frantz said.

The Oregonian reported last year that about 20 people with developmental disabilities who live in the state's group and foster homes are sexually abused each year. At least one in five developmentally disabled adults in these state-licensed homes has been abused by caregivers since 2000, when the state finished moving to community-based care after closing the Fairview Training Center in Salem.
Chapman lived in the home with his mother and the client. His mother told police she received a foster-care license in 2003, but she'd cared for the victim for about 20 years.

Marsha Chapman told authorities she remembered waking up at about 3 a.m. one night in November to the sound of her client's bed banging against the wall. She paid no heed to the noise, figuring her client was "playing."

The next day, she noticed her client was wearing different sweat pants than she went to bed in, that she had a fever and that her stomach was bloated. She called 9-1-1 at about 12:30 p.m.

Gresham police investigated, and Chapman was arrested about two weeks later. He told investigators he drank a considerable amount of whiskey and beer the night of the attack.

Deputy district attorney Greg Moawad said he doesn't know how the woman has fared in her recovery, but she has since moved to a different care home.

Aimee Green:503-294-5119; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com