New Date Set For Terry Bean Trial

The Oregonian reports:

A Lane County judge agreed Friday to reschedule the trial of prominent gay activist Terry Bean to allow the state more time to find its elusive star witness. Bean, 66, and his former boyfriend, Kiah Loy Lawson, 25, are accused of having sex with the boy at a Eugene hotel in 2013. Each is charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor. The trial was scheduled to start Tuesday in Lane County Circuit Court, but the boy, now 17, is nowhere to be found and the trial cannot proceed without him. Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin ruled Friday that there was good reason for a delay and reset the trial to Sept. 1 over the opposition of attorneys representing Bean and the boy.

Last week prosecutors accused the alleged victim and his mother of engaging in an elaborate series of ruses in order to avoid being served with a subpoena before the trial deadline. The state says it may now take the teen into custody as a material witness and hold him until the new trial date. If they ever find him.

OREGON: Alleged Victim In Terry Bean Case Accused Of Evading Subpoena

Earlier this week I reported that the teenage alleged victim in the Terry Bean sexual abuse case had vanished and that the trial might be called off without him. Yesterday prosecutors accused the unnamed youth and his mother of engaging in an elaborate series of ruses to avoid being served with a subpoena which orders him to appear for next week's trial.

Oregon law enforcement, along with investigators in California, attempted to serve the teen in San Diego County on July 26 after a judge in Lane County rejected a defense plan to dismiss the case. Once in California, however, detectives learned that the teen had quit both of his jobs in the days that followed the judge’s decision and had disappeared with his mother, who had flown from her home in Oregon to meet the youth in California on July 18 as the trial date approached. The pair then took an Amtrak train back to Eugene with tickets purchased by a friend of the boy’s mother, the document states. Officers returned to Oregon, determined who had bought the tickets and interviewed that person. That individual told police she bought the tickets, picked the two up from the train station when they arrived in Eugene and allowed them to stay in her home in Cottage Grove. The boy’s mother paid her friend in cash for the train tickets and later asked her to rent a car for them. During this time, the teen and his mother had turned off both of their cellphones and were using a “burner,” or untraceable prepaid phone, to communicate to avoid police detection. They also avoided using any credit cards to keep their activities secret from police, prosecutors said.

The now 17 year-old, who reportedly hooked up with HRC co-founder Bean and his then-boyfriend on Grindr in 2013, has said that the sex was consensual and that he doesn't want to press charges. Last month an Oregon judge rejected Bean's attempt to settle the case with a payment to the alleged victim. The amount of the proposed settlement was not disclosed. Citing the alleged victim's evasion tactics, yesterday the lead prosecutor requested a continuance in the case. Earlier this week the judge had warned him that trial schedule was to be strictly adhered to. Should the alleged victim be served with the subpoena in time, he faces contempt of court charges if he fails to appear.

OREGON: Alleged Victim In Terry Bean Case Vanishes, Trial May Not Proceed

Oregon Live reports:

The prosecutor handling the sex crimes case against Terry Bean, a prominent gay activist, told a judge Friday that his investigators have been unable to find the alleged victim in the case. Without the teenager's testimony, the case will have to be dismissed or the trial rescheduled, the prosecutor acknowledged. The boy, now 17, doesn't want to testify at the trial, his attorney said at an earlier hearing. Meanwhile, the search for the boy goes on. "We continue to put all available resources toward that issue," prosecutor Scott Healy said after a hearing before Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin. Bean, 66, and his former boyfriend, Kiah Loy Lawson, 25, are accused of having sex with the then-15-year-old boy at a Eugene hotel in 2013. They each are charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Bean, a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, allegedly met the teen on Grindr. Last month Judge McAplin rejected Bean's attempt to settle the case with a payment to the alleged victim. The amount of the settlement offer was not disclosed. After Friday's development, the lead prosecutor in the case said he might request a continuance, but the judge smacked him down, saying that in his court "we set dates and we expect them to be met." The trial is scheduled to begin next week.

OREGON: Judge Denies Settlement Offer To Alleged Victim Of Activist Terry Bean

An Oregon county judge has refused to allow HRC co-founder Terry Bean to make a financial settlement with the underage boy Bean and his former boyfriend are alleged to have hooked-up with on Grindr in 2013.

Bean, who lives in Portland and is a prominent political fundraiser, proposed a civil compromise that could result in the dismissal of the criminal charges. Had the request been granted, the criminal charges against Bean would have been dismissed. Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché said he was unaware of another child sex abuse case that has been settled by civil compromise. In Oregon, judges have discretion to accept or deny a civil compromise. In the Bean case, the alleged victim, now 17, supports the settlement and does not want to testify, said attorney Lori Deveny, who represents the boy. "He has been as vocal as he can be and his voice still isn't being heard," Deveny said. "There are certain social mores that we, as a society say, 'We are not going to let this happen,'" Zennaché said. "I think it's bad public policy ... (and bad) from a public safety perspective," Zennaché said.

The terms of the settlement offer were not disclosed.

RELATED: Ex-boyfriend Kiah Lawson was sentenced yesterday in an unrelated drug case.

Junction City resident Kiah Loy Lawson was placed on probation and issued a 20-day jail sentence after being convicted in Lane County Circuit Court of methamphetamine possession and supplying contraband, in connection with an arrest last year in Eugene. Lawson, 26, was given credit for time he has already served in jail and was expected to be promptly transported from Eugene to Washington County, where he faces sexual abuse allegations. That case is scheduled to be resolved before the Aug. 11 trial in Lane County set for both Lawson and Bean. They are charged with sexual abuse and sodomy for an alleged encounter with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene hotel room in September 2013.

OREGON: Prosecutors Reveal Additional Sex Abuse Allegations Against Terry Bean

Via Williamette Week:

Prosecutors 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.

Bean is a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign and was the largest Oregon fundraiser for both Obama presidential campaigns. Last week the attorney for Bean requested the dismissal of the original charges after Bean reportedly reached a civil settlement with the alleged victim, whom he met on Grindr. Prosecutors are opposing the dismissal motion. From Bean's attorney:

A civil compromise was filed on July 2 with a statement by the “alleged victim” that he has no interest in prosecuting this case and never did. A civil compromise represents a resolution of criminal charges that satisfies both parties. There is a hearing on this compromise on Thursday, July 16. The law allows a civil compromise in this case. However, the special prosecutor is objecting for dubious reasons. For almost two years, Terry Bean has been the victim of Kiah Lawson’s schemes and lies which have led law enforcement to harass Mr. Bean’s friends, seek out old acquaintances and threaten him with further prosecution unless he admits to events that did not occur.

World Net Daily is thrilled with the latest developments:

The Eugene paper noted Bean was first recognized for his activism in the 1970s when he helped persuade the Eugene City Council to pass an ordinance barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. Scott Lively, known for his opposition to the “gay” rights agenda, was communications director for an activist group that proposed ballot measures in the early 1990s to defend against the homosexual movement. He told WND in an interview the Bean case fits a pattern. “This is very common,” he said. “We see gay-activist leaders, one after another, being accused, sometimes charged, with pederasty – adult male homosexuality with teenage boys.” Oregon voters, Lively said, could have “stopped the LGBT agenda dead in its tracks” in 1992 by supporting the ballot measures he promoted. He pointed out that prosecutors allege regarding the 2013 charge that Bean paid the victim $40 after the encounter and encouraged the boy to join a support group for “gay” youths. “I have alleged for many years that these LGBT youth groups are really not much more than grooming center for predators, and this supports that allegation,” Lively told WND.

Regarding the original charges, Bean contends that he is the victim of an "extortion ring" that included ex-boyfriend Kiah Lawson, who claims to have discovered that Bean secretly videotaped sexual encounters with Lawson and other men in Bean's bedroom. It was Bean who first went to police in June 2014 to charge that Lawson and others were demanding money in exchange for remaining silent about the videotaping. In March 2014, Bean filed for a restraining order against Lawson, claiming domestic physical abuse. In that petition, Bean claimed that Lawson is a crystal meth addict who had burglarizing his home and charged $15K on stolen credit cards. He also accused Lawson of dealing meth out of Bean's second home, a condo where Lawson lived at that time. Bean claims that police characterized his accusations as a civil dispute between landlord and tenant.

RELATED:  In August 2014, a New Jersey man filed a federal lawsuit against Grindr, alleging that the hook-up app's "lax age verification standards" led him to be arrested for having sex with a 13 year-old boy who had been allowed to be a paying member of the site. Grindr's motion to dismiss cited the Communications Decency Act, which they claim immunizes companies from bad acts resulting from misinformation provided by other parties. They additionally claimed that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is "not feasible" for web publishers to verify the age of users. The lawsuit was dismissed in March of this year.

Terry Bean Pleads Not Guilty

Yesterday HRC co-founder Terry Bean pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on charges that he had sex with a 15 year-old boy that Bean and his then-partner met on the hook-up site Grindr.

Bean, 66, was arraigned Wednesday morning in Eugene. Both he and his ex-boyfriend, 25-year-old Kiah Lawson, were arrested last month and charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. Lawson pleaded not guilty to all counts in late November. In a statement, Bean’s attorney Kristen Winemiller said, “Terry absolutely did not have sex with a minor. As we’ve said before the circumstances behind this are not what they appear to be. Terry Bean is a principled and esteemed citizen of the state … He’s eager to share the truth with the public and with all of his supporters. He has been the victim of a series of crimes perpetrated by a group of men that include his so-called ex partner and now co-defendent Kiah Lawson. “Out of respect for the court today we will not comment on the specifics, but we are eager for the opportunity to represent the facts to the court and we look forward to clearing Terry’s name.”

RELATED: Yesterday right wing shrieker Michelle Malkin published a column in which she accuses the New York Times of ignoring the story to protect President Obama.

Consider this: Harry Reid has taken to the Senate floor to repeatedly demonize GOP donors and upstanding businessmen Charles and David Koch for exercising their First Amendment rights. Hollywood celebrities Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Jason Alexander and Stephen Colbert have all targeted conservative Citizens United for its historic role in protecting political free speech. All are mute on a powerful Democratic donor actually accused of heinous sexual abuse crimes against a child. While The New York Times has spilled gallons of ink on the campus rape epidemic, the GOP’s Mark Foley underage page scandal and the Catholic Church’s pedophilia problem, it has remained silent the past six months on the alleged child rape scheme of one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent campaign contributors and activists. On Tuesday, the paper saw fit to run a 652-word A-section story on an obscure GOP aide who was forced to quit her job after criticizing Obama’s daughters on her Facebook page. Nothing on Terry Bean.

Bill Donohue On Terry Bean

"He likes to hide his camera in the smoke-alarm over his bed, videoing kinky sex with his boyfriends. He is one of the biggest porn kings in American history, making a fortune off of 'barebacking' videos - the kind of unprotected sex that led directly to AIDS. And when he is not bundling hundreds of thousands of dollars for President Obama, he is riding with him on Air Force One. He was arrested last week in his Portland, Oregon home for rape. Charged with a felony, he is accused of sodomizing a teenage boy in 2013. Meet Terrence Patrick Bean. If a Catholic bishop does not call 911 at the drop of a hat regarding dirty pictures possessed by a priest, he is upbraided by the media and gay leaders. But when a gay superstar is arrested for raping a minor, the same critics say nothing. They never did care about the kid - just the identity of the abuser." - Bill Donohue, writing for the Catholic League.

FACT CHECK:  When Falcon Studios porn mogul Chuck Holmes died fourteen years ago, Bean agreed to be the executor of his estate, which was liquidated soon after. Per Holmes' wishes, the proceeds from the sale of his catalog of 70s porn titles were used to establish a foundation which provides grants to HIV/AIDS and LGBT causes. According to the most recent filing of the Charles M. Holmes Foundation, among the donations made in 2012 were grants to the ACLU, Equity Fights AIDS, Oregon's Equity Foundation, the Pacific Northwest Hospice Foundation, and an LGBT scholarship program at the University of Oregon.

HRC Announces Leave Of Absence For Accused Board Member Terry Bean

The Human Rights Campaign yesterday issued a brief statement noting that co-founder and board of directors member Terry Bean has taken a leave of absence. Last week Bean was arrested and charged with the sexual abuse of a 15 year-old boy that he and his then-partner met on Grindr in 2013.

From HRC vice president Fred Sainz: "Terry Bean has taken a voluntary leave of absence from the HRC board until his issues are resolved. Bean is just one of 80 board members, none of whom have daily oversight or responsibility for any of our programs."

Also yesterday Bean reacted publicly to his arrest for the first time and posted a message on his Facebook page: "To all my friends, please be assured that I am innocent of all these charges. My lawyers have insisted that the facts come out in the courtroom and not in the press, but I am eager to share the truth, and I am grateful for all of your support you have shown me during this time. Thanks, Terry."

Bean's next court appearance will be on December 5th. In addition to co-founding the HRC, he co-founded the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and was the top Oregon fundraiser for Obama's 2008 campaign. His arrest has sparked taunting headlines on anti-gay and right wing sites, many of which are now concluding any LGBT-related story with a mention of the scandal.

REPORT: Accused HRC Co-Founder Terry Bean Met Teenaged Boy On Grindr

Portland police yesterday reported that accused HRC co-founder Terry Bean, 66, met the teenaged boy he is charged with molesting on Grindr. The boy was identified after police were given his phone number by Bean's former partner, Kiah Lawson, 25, who has also been charged with sexual abuse of a minor. Via the Oregonian:

Bean and Lawson are accused of setting up an encounter with the teen through the iPhone app Grindr, a mobile social network that helps men find "local gay, bi and curious guys for dating.'' The app advertises, "Meet the men nearest you with GPS.'' Bean, 66, and Lawson, 25, are accused of having sex with the boy at a Eugene hotel on Sept. 27, 2013. A Lane County grand jury indicted both on two counts of third-degree sodomy and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. On Friday afternoon, Lawson pleaded not guilty to the three-count indictment in Lane County Circuit Court. Bean, who posted bail, is set to appear in court Dec. 3. "The surprising thing to me is Kiah was indicted in this case because it was Kiah who helped authorities find this kid,'' said Jeffrey Dickey, Lawson's attorney at the time. "If someone is going to cooperate and be helpful for the police there should be some kind of reward for that. It could have a chilling effect on others coming forward.''

Bean contends that he is the victim of an "extortion ring" that included Lawson, who claims to have discovered that Bean secretly videotaped sexual encounters with Lawson and other men in Bean's bedroom. It was Bean who first went to police in June to charge that Lawson and others were demanding money in exchange for remaining silent about the videotaping.

In March of this year, Bean filed for a restraining order against Lawson, claiming domestic physical abuse. In that petition, Bean claimed that Lawson is a crystal meth addict who had burglarizing his home and charged $15K on stolen credit cards. He also accused Lawson of dealing meth out of  Bean's second home, a condo where Lawson lived at that time. Bean claims that police characterized his accusations as a civil dispute between landlord and tenant.

UPDATE: Lawson's mother has weighed in.

Lawson’s mother, Tim Nouanemany, told KOIN 6 News after the hearing her son never had contact with the teen, and that Terry Bean arranged the encounter. She also said Lawson is himself the victim, a pawn used by Bean to “get young kids.” She called it “grooming,” and claimed several times Bean gave her son alcohol and Viagra as part of the grooming process to entice the teen. Nouanemany is sticking by her son and said she just wants the truth to come out. She also hopes he gets to take a lie detector test. Lawson, she said, went from being a happy young man last year after first meeting Bean to someone who is not himself lately.

And there's this from the 15 year-old's lawyer: "He’s been traumatized and he’ll be living with that trauma. It’s important that the two adults involved he held to account for that. Something like this can follow a victim for their life. As we go to electronic court records, everything becomes searchable."

RELATED: In August of this year, a New Jersey man filed a federal lawsuit against Grindr, alleging that the hook-up app's "lax age verification standards" led him to be arrested for having sex with a 13 year-old boy, who had been allowed to be a paying member of the site. Grindr's motion to dismiss cites the Communications Decency Act, which they claim immunizes companies from bad acts resulting from misinformation provided by other parties. They additionally claim that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is "not feasible" for web publishers to verify the age of users. 

Ex-Gay Group: HRC Should Fund Torture Therapy For Alleged Sexual Abuse Victim

"It is outrageous and tragic that the Founder of the largest gay activist organization in the world is molesting boys, while at the same time their leadership is pushing for laws across the United States to keep those same boys out of the counseling office to heal trauma at the hands of homosexual pedophiles. In light of these serious allegations, we are calling on HRC to donate a considerable amount of funding in their 2015 budget to fund Reparative Therapy (or whatever preferred SOCE therapy of their choosing) for their pedophile Founder, and his victim. Voice Of The Voiceless will work with HRC to locate appropriate, highly qualified licensed counselors that are trained in advanced therapeutic techniques to heal trauma for the victim. How many more children will have to be molested before America realizes the damage being inflicted by HRC and other gay activists? Instead of trying to keep sexually abused and confused children out of the counseling office, HRC and their allies need to take a hard look in the mirror at their tactics to secure 'equality' and stop using innocent, sexually confused children as pawns in their political agenda." - Ex-gay nutjob Christopher Doyle, responding to the arrest of HRC co-founder Terry Bean.

OREGON: HRC Co-Founder Terry Bean Charged With Molesting 15 Year-Old Boy

Human Rights Campaign and Victory Fund co-founder Terry Bean, 66, was arrested in Oregon yesterday on sex abuse charges involving a 15 year-old boy. Via Williamette Week:

Law enforcement sources familiar with the case say Bean will be charged with two counts of sodomy in the third degree, a felony, and sex abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor. He will be arraigned later in Lane County, where the crimes allegedly occurred in 2013. The arrest comes after a six-month investigation that began with allegations Bean secretly made video recordings of men having sex in his bedroom. As WW reported in June, Bean accused a former lover, Kiah Lawson, of attempting to extort him over the discovery of a hidden camera. In the spring, Bean sought to keep the allegations secret and tried to reach a $40,000 settlement with Lawson.

After WW began asking questions, Bean went to the police asking them to investigate his allegations. Bean also handed over to police what he said was evidence of additional illegal activity by Lawson and others. Lawson told WW that early this year he had discovered a hidden camera in a smoke detector above Bean's bed. Lawson claimed he was in more than one video that was made without his knowledge, and that video recording also captured at least a half dozen men “in a state of nudity engaged in intimate acts with [Bean].” At the time, Bean’s attorney, Kristen Winemiller, denied the camera had been used for any illegal or improper purpose, and that it had been installed because Bean had been the victim of theft. Winemiller said Lawson was extorting Bean.

A multimillionaire real estate developer, Bean raised more more than anyone in his state for the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama, who has reportedly hosted Bean on Air Force One. News of Bean's arrest has already rocketed around Teabagistan, with Matt Barber and Bryan Fischer tweeting out exulting reports. Scott Lively will appear on Fischer's radio program today to perform a celebratory dance. Bean's lawyer has issued a statement declaring that yesterday's arrest is linked to the above-cited extortion claims and that Bean will be exonerated.

UPDATE: Anti-gay activists are being quick to distribute the below video montage of photos of Bean with President Obama.

UPDATE II: Bean's former partner has now been arrested on the same charge.

The former boyfriend of Terrence P. Bean was arrested early Thursday on sex abuse charges stemming from the same alleged 2013 encounter with a 15-year-old boy at a hotel in Eugene. Kiah Loy Lawson, 25, was arrested at 1:15 a.m. at the Portland Police Bureau's Central Precinct and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center shortly after 2 a.m. He's accused of third-degree sodomy and third-degree sexual abuse. Lawson is expected to be transferred later Thursday to Lane County, where he was indicted, according to jail officials. His bail was set at $50,000. Detective Jeff Myers from the Portland's Sex Crimes Unit made the arrest, hours after police took Lawson's ex-boyfriend, Portland developer Terrence Patrick Bean, into custody Wednesday morning.

UPDATE III: LGBTQ Nation reporter Brody Levesque notes that the HRC has scrubbed Bean's name from their board of directors listing. Via Google's cache, here's how the top of that list looked recently.