PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -– A grand jury this week indicted a 40-year-old accused of committing sex crimes against a girl under the age of 16 and providing her with meth, according to court documents.

David Christopher Voss was arrested on September 21 by detectives assigned to Portland Police Bureau’s Sex Crimes Unit. He was arrested after PPB Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) executed a search warrant at his residence in Southeast Portland.

Originally, Voss was charged with 1 count each of delivery of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, attempt to elude by vehicle, possession of heroin, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and driving while revoked or suspended.

A grand jury, however, recently indicted him with additional charges of delivery of methamphetamine to a juvenile, third-degree rape, second-degree sexual abuse, and 6 counts of third-degree sodomy.

According to court documents, the crimes Voss is accused of occurred on August 3. Records describe the unlawful delivery of methamphetamine as a “commercial drug offense.”

Voss appeared in court on Monday and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. He is scheduled to be back in court in November.

Police told KOIN 6 News the investigation remains open and ongoing.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Justice Department immigration lawyers say the imam of Portland’s largest mosque encouraged members of the Portland Seven to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan after Sept. 11.

The Oregonian newspaper reports the allegation was included in court papers filed by lawyers in Washington D.C.

The attorneys are trying to persuade a judge to revoke the citizenship of Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye.

Justice Department lawyers wrote that Kariye was present when members of the Portland Seven left to go wage jihad, and wished them luck. They also contend that Kariye told several members of the plot that Muslims should fight with fellow Muslim brothers in Afghanistan.

Members of the group traveled to China in 2001, but failed to gain entry into Afghanistan. Nevertheless, six people pleaded guilty in the plot.

Kariye’s lawyers have filed papers seeking to dismiss the government’s lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Police are investigating a shooting near SE 122nd Ave. and SE Powell Blvd. that happened just after midnight Wednesday.

A 24-year-old man told officers he was walking near the intersection when he was suddenly hit in the hand with a bullet. The man didn’t know who shot him or where the shot came from.

A witness did hear a gunshot.

The victim is expected to be ok.

Police do not have any suspect details but encourage people with information to call 503.823.0400.

TIGARD, Ore. (KOIN) — The number of kids playing football is declining, while concern about concussions grows. Now for the first time, some local schools are implementing a radical new way of tackling to curb the number of concussions sustained on the field.

Although the Tigard High School football team went into last year’s state championship game undefeated, this season they’re learning a new tackling method presented by the Seattle Seahawks and University of Washington.

“Our tackling style has been inspired by those who play rugby around the world,” Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll said. Carroll narrates the team’s video explaining how its defense attempts to bring down ball carriers. “Rugby players have done a tremendous job of taking the head out of their game.”

The rugby technique is based on using the shoulder instead of the head.

“Hawk tackles are shoulder tackles targeting the thigh of the ball carriers where the tackler keeps his eyes at thigh level,” Carroll said.

Click the picture to watch the Seattle Seahawks tackling technique video

Tigard’s defensive coordinator Tyler Harman told KOIN 6 News the old style called for a tackler to put his face on the ball, across the ball carrier’s body.

“That’s when you see that helmet to helmet contact,” Harman explained. “What we teach is, even though you lower your head, I’m tracking near the hip. That’s where I’m going to put my head. Previously, we’ve been teaching tracking the wrong hip of the carrier where you’re essentially going to be putting your head across.”

When a player makes a tackle using the new method, the head isn’t the primary impact point.

“We focus on a technique called run and gather where the player tracks the near hip of the carrier as he closes in on the tackle,” Carroll said.

KOIN Sports Director Stan Brock, who played in the NFL for 16 years, says as helmets and facemasks got better, players were taught to use them as weapons.

“I have always said, if you want to get rid of concussions, get rid of the facemask,” Brock said.

Virginia Tech University has been testing and rating football helmets since 2011. Five-star helmets are considered the best, and 1-star the worst.

“If you have a good 4-star helmet, there’s a little improvement to a 5-star but it’s very small,” Virginia Tech professor Stefan Duma previously said. “If you’re in a 1-star, not recommended, or even a 2-star, you really should move into the 5-star category. Those differences are dramatic.”

But according to proponents of the new tackling technique, even the best quality helmets can’t protect players against concussions if they continue using their heads as the primary impact point.

To see the ratings of helmets used at local schools, read the chart below.

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — It’s a long way from Chungcheongnamdo, South Korea to Vancouver, Washington, but dozens of dogs rescued from a dog meat operation are experiencing a completely different kind of life than they knew until recently.

The Humane Society International rescued 103 dogs from a South Korean farmer who shut down his business. All the dogs were brought to the United States, and 58 dogs came to Washington on September 20.

A total of 25 of those dogs — Tosa mix and Jindo mix breeds — came to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington where Lisa Feder and her staff are working with each dog to help it adjust to new surroundings.

Applications are being accepted and some of the dogs may be ready for adoption as of October 15.

“These dogs were raised to be food, to be meat,” Feder told KOIN 6 News. “They were essentially held in wire crates. The females were used for breeding litters over and over again.”

The dogs would be raised until they were big enough to be sold and then auctioned off to restaurants, she said.

Koreans eat about 2 million dogs a year, and there are about 17,000 dog farms in that country, the Humane Society said.

All of these dogs, ranging in age from 6 months to 2 years, “never experienced anything outside of their little wire enclosure,” Feder said. “So when they’re out playing in the yard and they see a butterfly flying by, they light up because it’s totally new to them.”

K-9 enrichment specialist Tara Zimmerman said they dogs are doing well.

“We have a lot of work to do to get them home-ready,” she told KOIN 6 News, “but they’re moving along just beautifully.”

Some of the dogs are still very shy, and many need to learn how to walk on a leash. They don’t know how to sit, and the dogs are learning to take treats gently.

“We are working hard to give them as many good experiences as we can while here and then ready to help our adopters when (the dogs are) ready to go out,” Zimmerman said.

Feder admitted the transition for the dogs will not be easy and “it’s not going to be the automatic perfect dog in a perfect home.”

The dogs need to be house trained and have a structured routine. They need patience and structure and a quiet, stable home without young children.

But she said there is no competition with dogs already at the shelter.

“I like to say we have enough love to go around here,” she said.

—–

Applications are being accepted and some of the dogs may be ready for adoption as of October 15.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Complaints about transient or “pirate” boats on the Willamette River have been coming in for years, but now neighbors tell KOIN 6 News laws meant to regulate where the boats dock are not being enforced.

“This time it’s just getting out of hand,” Portland resident Dan Legree said. “It’s like having a camper parked outside your house, on the street, and the guy is just parked there. Noise, parties — what are you going to do?”

Legree listed off many problems he associates with transient or “pirate” boaters parked upriver, but he says one big issue stands out:

“It’s really the sewage,” he said. “When you are parked upstream from a houseboat community and waste — or whatever is going into the river — goes downstream, it hits my house first and filters down through the moorage.”

But some boaters claim they aren’t dumping sewage into the water. They say they aren’t hurting anyone and that they have a right to be there.

In 2013, a new law went into effect stating boats can only park in one spot along the river for 30 days. Then, they have to move 5 nautical miles away and they can’t come back for 1 year.

“I don’t think [the law] is real,” Legree said. “I hear about it, no one is enforcing it.”

Lori Warner-Dickason with the Department of State Lands told KOIN 6 News resources are a challenge, and the entire process of seizing a sailboat could cost as much as $10,000.

“Part of the challenge with this issue is the population that is using the river and anchoring out, as we call it — they’re diverse,” Warner-Dickason began. “For some, this is the only housing alternative they have.”

DSL is still working to establish voluntary compliance with the law, in addition to providing services for those with nowhere else to go.

“The department is not interested in throwing people out of their homes,” Warner-Dickason said.

DSL says it anticipates enforcing action against those who aren’t complying with the law sooner rather than later.

At the same time, a petition has surfaced working to ease the state law.

SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — A Salem man was arrested Wednesday after being mistaken for his twin brother.

According to officials, Salem Police officers were looking for 33-year-old Cesar Munoz, who is wanted for a parole violation. They spotted him in the area of Lansing and Market St. NE near the Red Lion Hotel.

When police tried to contact him, he ran inside and was found hiding in a fitness room.

It was then determined the man wasn’t Cesar Munoz, but his identical twin brother Saul, who had meth and a stolen gun on him.

Saul Munoz was booked into the Marion County jail on several charges.

The whereabouts of his brother are still unknown.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – A northern Idaho woman is relieved that a fugitive wanted in the kidnapping and torture of two women in suburban Portland, Oregon, nearly a quarter century ago has been arrested at a hotel in Mexico.

Michaelle Dierich of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, says she was a victim of 45-year-old Paul Erven Jackson.

She says she felt gratitude and relief at the news that Jackson has been arrested. She says she is “100 percent committed” to testifying against him at trial.

Jackson was arrested Monday by Mexican immigration authorities in downtown Guadalajara. He is now being held in a Los Angeles jail.

At his court appearance on Wednesday, he waived his right for an extradition hearing, which means will he be returned to Washington County.

KOIN 6 News Staff contributed to this report.

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — A former Vancouver high school drama teacher was sentenced to 5 years in prison on Wednesday for having sex with a 15-year-old student.

Stephanie McCrea, 36, pleaded guilty to 4 counts of third-degree rape of a child and 1 count of tampering with a witness.

The former Evergreen High School teacher was arrested in January after turning herself in to police.

Police accused McCrea of using her position as a drama instructor and English teacher to rape a 15-year-old boy.

According to prosecutors, McCrea and the boy had sex in her home and her office beginning in December.

She was also found guilty of creating a fake Facebook account to communicate with the boy during the investigation. She allegedly coached the 15-year-old on what to say if he spoke to law enforcement.

In court on Wednesday, McCrea said she takes responsibility for her actions and that she feels the pain of knowing she’s hurt many people with her choices.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The owners of a Portland-area bakery are refusing to pay $135,000 in state-ordered damages to a same-sex couple who were refused service.

Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, cited religious beliefs when they refused to bake a wedding cake for Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer more than two years ago.

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian awarded the damages in July for emotional suffering, saying the owners had violated the women’s rights by discriminating on the basis of their sexual orientation.

The Kleins have filed an appeal of the ruling and are defying the order to pay. They’re claiming financial hardship although crowdfunding efforts have brought in over $500,000 on their behalf.

The Oregonian reports state officials have asked to place a lien on the Kleins’ property or other assets.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Police on Thursday said a missing 62-year-old man has been found safe.

Reginald Dean Lewis went missing on Wednesday.

No other information about his return was released.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — For the first time ever, recreational marijuana is being sold legally to adults over 21 in the state of Oregon.

“It’s going to be extremely busy,” Shane McKee, co-owner of Shango Premium Cannabis, told KOIN 6 News on Wednesday night.

McKee and his staff spent the night setting up shop at their dispensary on SE Harold Street, expecting a rush of customers once the clock struck midnight on October 1.

“The whole team has been preparing a couple of years for this,” he said.

Although recreational marijuana became legal in Oregon on July 1, the state prohibited sales for 3 months as lawmakers discussed oversight.

State officials originally planned to hold off on recreational sales until 2016.

“The early start was a little bit of a surprise for us,” McKee said. “We thought we had until third quarter next year, and here we are third quarter this year.”

The state won’t be ready to begin regulated sales until next year. As a temporary stop-gap and to curb black market sales, state lawmakers voted to allow early sales of recreational marijuana tax-free.

The Oregon Health Authority gave more than 100 medical marijuana dispensaries the green light to begin recreational sales on Thursday. But more than 250 medical shops across the state say they have plans to sell recreational pot in the future.

Meanwhile, a group of parents in the Parkrose neighborhood say they hope the kickoff of recreational marijuana sales in Oregon will start a conversation.

“This is something that’s happening in mainstream society,” Normalize Marijuana organizer Leah Maurer said. “This is about breaking down stereotypes and preconceived notions that people might have about marijuana users.”

Maurer says it’s going to be an adjustment for everyone.

“Even if it’s not something you agree with, or not something that you choose to use or that you are comfortable being around, it’s still an important time,” she said. “We, as citizens of Oregon, are going to be walking this walk of new recreational, legal marijuana sales together.”

Lois Pariseau of Gras Cannabis said his dispensary’s “bud tenders” are ready to educate new users about pot. And anyone wanting to buy should first understand what is and isn’t allowed.

Adults over 21 can buy a quarter ounce of buds. Candy bars and brownies, as well as extracts, concentrates and marijuana-infused products are not available in early sales. Customers must provide a valid, government-issued photo ID as proof of age.

On Wednesday, the Portland City Council passed an ordinance to limit the hours of operation for local dispensaries. It also blocked stores that sell recreational pot from operating within 1,000 feet of each other.

Some cities and counties voted to prohibit early retail sales of marijuana. They include Douglas and Harney counties, Gresham, Brownsville, John Day, Junction City, La Grande, Reedsport and Sherwood.

The hotline number 503.823.9333 has been set up for Oregonians who wish to file nuisance complaints about dispensaries in their neighborhood.

For an interactive map and directory of medical dispensaries selling recreational marijuana, click here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN 6) — Three people were hurt after a two-vehicle, high speed collision, according to Gresham Police.

The crash was reported 4:07 a.m. on Thursday at the intersection of 181st and Sandy. According to Portland Police, officers observed a white sedan travelling at a high rate of speed on Northeast Columbia. The vehicle was last seen travelling eastbound on Northeast Sandy. Officers never pursued the vehicle because the driver was going too fast, according to police.

As officers were following at a distance, they got reports of the crash at Northeast 181st and Sandy. Officers responded and found a Pontiac vehicle with heavy front end damage. The other vehicle sustained moderate damage to the front. Two people inside the Pontiac were transported to a local trauma hospital.

The driver of the white vehicle is identified by police as a male in his 30s. He was detained on scene and then transported by ambulance to a local hospital. His name has not been released.

Speed, police said, is a factor in the crash, but it remains unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors.

The intersection re-opened around 6:15 a.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) – Two men are scheduled to change their plea and will be sentenced on Thursday for their reported involvement in a deadly shooting that happened in Nov. 2013, according to court records.

Details of the plea agreement between the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and Corey D. Hill and Antonio L. Sanders Jr. have not been released. Both men are scheduled to appear before Judge Eric J. Bergstrom at 10 a.m. in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Thursday.

According to previously filed court records, Hill was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman. During that relationship, Hill and the woman had a child. The woman left Hill and started a new relationship with Precious Jackson.

Hill “was very upset about being cast aside,” court documents state. On Nov. 1, 2013, Hill and Sanders, along with two others, arrived to an apartment complex in the 12400 block of Southeast Powell Blvd. where Jackson and the other woman had been staying.

“Hill and Sanders confronted (the woman) and Jackson and an angry exchanged followed,” according to court documents. Sanders then pulled out a .380 semi-automatic pistol and started shooting at Jackson at close range, court documents state.

Police said Hill and Sanders, along with the other “associates,” fled the scene.

Two Portland Police officers were in the area and heard the gunshots, records show. There was a short vehicle chase between police and Hill and Sanders. The vehicle that Hill and Sanders were in ultimately crashed. DNA from a mask thrown from the vehicle was a match to Sanders, according to court documents. Police also found a .40 caliber pistol that was wrapped in an orange bandana. DNA from both items matched to Hill, according to court documents.

Both Hill and Jackson remain in custody. A grand jury indicted them with one count each of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

KOIN 6 News will have more information about the plea and sentencing throughout the day.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) – A Multnomah County judge declared a mistrial this week for two men who are accused of murder.

Ervin Oliver Golden Jr. and Mark Lyle Moore, Sr. are both charged with murder and arson following the death of 37-year-old Jeremy Purcell. Portland Fire & Rescue responded to reports of a garage fire on Feb. 11, 2013 in the 9900 block of Southeast Yukon.

The Oregonian/Oregon Live first reported the mistrial on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Jonathan T. Sarre, the criminal defense attorney for Golden, said the mistrial was declared after the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office revealed that it had discovered a new witness in the case. Sarre said up until the prosecutor’s admission, the witness was unbeknownst to them.

Sarre said the witness is an insurance investigator who probed the fire for Safeco prior to a claim being paid on.

Defense attorneys argue there is no physical or forensic evidence of arson.

Defense attorney Russell S. Barnett III, who represents Moore, told the jury the cause of the fire was ruled as “undetermined.” Barnett said the state medical examiner ruled that Purcell died because of smoke inhalation.

A new trial date will be selected on Oct. 6.

PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — Talking about death is never easy.

Resurrection is a kinder subject, full of possibilities, and hope. But in action? Death happens; it rarely demands effort. Resurrection? It just may be the hardest work of all.

A year ago, 12 members of University Park United Methodist Church sat around their church’s fellowship hall. The three-hour church meeting was the last of eight such gatherings called by the Rev. Julia Nielsen, the church’s dynamic, red-haired pastor. “The faithful remnant” is how Nielsen describes the 25 or so who faithfully attend University Park’s Sunday morning services. The church on North Lombard Street is 120 years old and once hosted hundreds. Now, like many Portland mainstream churches, it struggles.

The church struggles with membership, and with funding. But in Nielsen’s eyes there are important ways in which University Park remains strong and viable. It does not struggle with commitment, or a sense of mission, or community. The faithful remnant, as she calls them, are bonded together by a sense of social justice.

And it is those principles that have University Park on the verge of a breakthrough in one of Portland’s most intractable social problems. The city desperately needs more homes for low-income residents. The congregants of University Park have an idea.

Nielsen had called the fellowship hall meetings after previously telling congregants that the United Methodist Church had given her the word — University Park had six months to continue as it has. After that, it either would have begun the process of turning into something else, or it would be closed. But at this meeting she told them that she had met a developer who wanted them to consider the possibility of building an affordable housing apartment complex on their property.

Nielsen led off the evening by reading a passage from the New Testament. That evening’s selection came from 1 John 3:18. “Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action,” Nielsen read.

Everybody was then invited to talk about how their church could embody the message of that week’s passage.

Nielsen anticipated a variety of viewpoints. Constructing apartments on church property is not a small thing to ask. Giving up a longtime place of worship is not an easy idea to confront. She expected at least some of those present would opt to delay any decision, to take comfort in an uncertain status quo. But none did. And none chose to let the church die. The vote was unanimous to pursue the building of affordable housing on their property.

Architectural plans have been drawn. United Methodist Church officials are pursuing bank loans. And sometimes Nielsen, unexpectedly, finds herself in the church courtyard entertaining the strangest of thoughts.

“I’m constantly saying, ‘We could be standing in somebody’s living room,’” she says.

The proposal is to build between 24 and 32 apartments and is based on similar projects developer Rob Justus has built for the nonprofit Portland Habilitation Center. Justus is able to build fast, usually in about nine months. That’s largely because his developments don’t take public funding, and aren’t required to meet and document endless requirements that come with taxpayer money. The North Lombard property is already zoned for residential development.

Within six months, church officials say, they could have the University Park project ready to go. And it is that pace, as much as the development itself, which excites Nielsen.

“People perceive the church as slow-moving and out of touch, averse to change,” she says. “Real change is going to be that the church can be visionary and move.”

Justus’ previous affordable housing developments provide modern one-bedroom apartments complete with washers, dryers and granite countertops that rent for as little as $400 a month — almost unheard of in a city where rents for even modest apartments have been skyrocketing.

“What if we led the charge for the city?” Nielsen asks. “What if churches changed the landscape of how to do affordable housing?

Coming together

Providing a home to those who don’t have one has become something of a tradition at University Park. For years, it has been known as a home for the gay community. Until recently, homeless people had been allowed to camp on University Park’s grounds. The city of Portland eventually threatened to fine the church if it did not remove the campers.

Then, earlier this year, University Park opened its doors to the 50 or so congregants of the evangelical St. Johns Covenant Church. St. Johns’ congregants were essentially forced to leave their North Portland building as a result of formally opening its doors to the gay community, according to its pastor, Andy Goebel.

“We were rejected by our denomination,” Goebel says.

University Park initially invited members of St. Johns, now a Disciples of Christ church, to attend services with them. But that quickly has changed to a situation in which both pastors lead services together. That’s no small feat, considering that the liturgies for the evangelical St. Johns Covenant and United Methodists are anything but similar.

But that’s the point, Nielsen says. If two churches with different practices can come together to worship and build affordable housing, she says, why can’t other denominations do the same?

“Honestly, we’re in the business of miracles,” Nielsen says.

It’s all enough to force a man to reconsider his position on faith, says Scott Jensen, a University Park congregant since 2002, well before Nielsen arrived.

“I’m not one of those who believe God does a lot of intervention. I think God is a little busy to worry about the little things,” Jensen says.

But then St. Johns’ congregants lost their home, and University Park, with its tradition of welcoming people of all sexual identities, stepped forward. University Park found the courage to confront its dim future head on, and the affordable housing solution just happened to appear.

“It was like the spirit really had done something.”Jensen says.

Half the cost, half the time, all the benefits

If the United Methodist Church follows through with the plan unanimously approved by the congregants of University Park Church, it will arrange for a loan to build an affordable housing development on church property.

The church will follow the blueprint established by developer Rob Justus and Portland Habilitation Center, a nonprofit that trains and employs people with disabilities.

Justus will construct between 24 and 30 apartments on the church’s North Lombard Street property. The church has agreed to sacrifice its fellowship hall and part of the church courtyard for the development. The church’s sanctuary will remain, available for worship.

Justus says he will be able to build the apartments for around $70,000 a unit — about $1.75 million total. That’s about half to a third of what most affordable housing projects cost, and approximately the size of the loan

United Methodist wouldn’t be considering the project were it not for Justus’ streamlined, government-free model, says Lowell Greathouse, Mission and Ministry coordinator for the United Methodist Church in Oregon and Idaho. The church has no interest in becoming a Community Development Corporation and working with government agencies on complicated funding schemes, Greathouse explains.

“It (Justus’ model) completely changes the conversation and makes it more possible,” Greathouse says.

Greathouse says there are at least a half dozen local Methodist churches that, like University Park, are struggling to survive and own property that could potentially host affordable housing buildings. Many healthier churches that own their property could also consider the idea, he adds.

“It would be a significant way for the church to respond to the needs of our times,” Greathouse says.

Justus says he has already been contacted by other denominations interested in what might occur at University Park.

“It’s a pilot for the Methodists but it’s for the broader church community,” Justus says. “It opens a whole new door. I’ve always felt like the model we’ve created is this kernel of possibility.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Paul Jackson, who fled Oregon in 1990 after being indicted for kidnapping and rape, was returned to the Washington County Jail early Friday morning, the sheriff’s department said.

Jackson was arrested Monday in Mexico by Mexican authorities and the U.S. Marshals Service. His extradition was swift. He was taken out of Mexico within a day, arrived in Los Angeles for processing and arrived in Washington County in the early hours of Friday.

He was arrested in Guadalajara by Mexican immigration authorities at a downtown hotel. He told authorities his name was Paul Bennett Hamilton and he’d been living in Mexico for years.

Jackson was indicted for rape and kidnapping on June 30, 1990 but fled before a trial could take place. Investigators believed he and his half-brother, Vance Roberts, held a teen against her will and raped her.

A spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KOIN 6 News that Jackson will be arraigned at 3 p.m. in Hillsboro.

KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.

GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) — A youth wrestling coach who has also worked with the Boy Scouts of America was arrested Thursday for the alleged sexual abuse of 6 juveniles.

Wyatt Ross DeRemer is an in-home health care provider working with developmentally disabled children and also worked as a volunteer fire fighter in Boring, Gresham police said in a release.

The 25-year-old also worked as a paid assistant wrestling coach for the high school as recently as this past spring. He currently lives in the basement of his mother’s house.

Police began their investigation September 10 after the parent of a high school student reported DeRemer had inappropriate contact with their son.

Investigators said DeRemer confessed to abusing 6 children — aged 10 to 13 — between 2009 and 2012. Two of them were allegedly abused overseas.

Two children were believed to be abused in his car and one while on an overnight camping trip. Another incident allegedly took place in his basement.

DeRemer has 2 bachelor’s degrees from PSU and has never before been arrested, police said.

As either an assistant or a volunter, DeRemer previously worked with these organizations:

Boy Scouts of America, Eagles Club (as a cook), Eastside Elite Mat Club (head coach), USA Wrestling Association, Gresham Mat Club, Estacada Mat Club
Cobra Wrestling Mat Club,  SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) after school wrestling program at the following Gresham area schools: Dexter McCarty Middle School, Clear Creek Middle School, and Gresham High School.

“We are shocked and concerned about these charges,” said Gresham High School Principal John Koch in a statement. “We will be doing all we can to support our students.”

DeRemer surrendered to police and is being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center on 7 counts of 1st-degree sexual abuse. His bail was set at $1.75 million.

—

Due to the sensitive nature of this case and the potential for more victims, Gresham Police Department’s Child Abuse Team asks that everyone respect the privacy of the victims and refrain from questioning them about their involvement. If anyone has had concerning contact with DeRemer or believes they have information pertinent to this ongoing investigation, they are asked to call Detective Aaron Turnage, at 503.823.0189.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Most Oregon college campuses do not have armed security, but after 4 years of study the Portland State University security force became the latest to add guns.

PSU joined the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and OHSU in arming their campus security.

There are now 4 uniformed police officers on the PSU campus who went through months of training at the Oregon State Police academy and field training. There are 10 other PSU security officers who do not carry a gun..

The fact PSU is an urban campus with 30,000 students is one of the reasons the school voted to approve arming their officers. PSU officers can use their gun in situations where another person is armed, an active threat and someone who is actively resisting.

The university is in the process of adding 8 more officers over the next 3 years.

ALOHA, Ore. (KOIN) — A shooting that may have involved a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy is being investigated in Aloha.

The area in the 18000 block of Shaw includes the Patrician Apartments. Witnesses told KOIN 6 News they heard 5 to 7 gunshots. An apartment resident said he saw police pull up at around 5 p.m. and heard gunfire about 3 minutes later.

Police said the public is not in danger.

KOIN 6 News will have more information as soon as possible.