A high profile Democrat fundraiser has been caught up with sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy with his boyfriend.
Terry Bean, 66, and his boyfriend, Kiah Loy Lawson, 25, were arrested on Wednesday in his home in southwest Portland. They were indicted with two counts of third-degree sodomy and one count of third-degree sex abuse.
However, his attorney says he is a victim of an extortion ring that many high profile people and local law enforcement were part of.
More from Daily Mail:
Terry Bean, 66, co-founded two of the biggest national campaign groups and raised more than $500,000 for Barack Obama's 2012 re-election bid.
The alleged incident involved a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy in 2013 in Eugene, Oregon, police said.
Bean is a revered character among the gay rights activist community and with the Democratic Party, Oregon Live reports.
He helped to form the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay And Lesbian Victory Fund.
The trained broker was forced to defend himself earlier this year after his co-accused, Lawson, revealed Bean secretly filmed their sexual encounters.
However, his lawyer Kristin Winemiller has lambasted claims he abused a teenage boy.
Oh but things get even more twisted in this case.
More from The Willamette Week:
As the case proceeded to trial, Bean reportedly offered the alleged underage victim $220,000 to accept a civil compromise—a type of alternative resolution to a criminal charge. But the trial judge refused to accept the civil compromise. The trial was set for August 11, 2015.
But weeks before the trial, the alleged victim simply disappeared. The trial was postponed but when the alleged victim surfaced, he refused to testify. Charges against Bean were dismissed, without prejudice, on Sept. 1, 2015. That meant the charges could be reinstated in the future, should circumstances change.
At the time, Bean proclaimed his innocence in a statement.
Bean and his alleged victim may now get their days in court. On Jan. 4, A Lane County grand jury voted to re-indict Bean on the same charges. It is unclear what prompted the change in circumstances, however, the alleged victim recently filed a complaint with the Oregon State Bar, saying that the lawyer who represented him in the Bean case, Lori Deveny, never gave the alleged victim a $220,000 settlement that Bean apparently did pay. Deveny was the subject of this week\'s cover story.
"I was falsely accused and completely innocent of every accusation that was made," Bean said then. "I look forward to being able to tell the story of this conspiracy of lies, deceit, blackmail, malicious prosecution and homophobia now that this case has ended."
Derek Ashton, Bean\'s attorney, says that he is the victim of extortion.
"Once again, Terry is innocent of the charges," Ashton said. "The accuser wants money. It\'s that simple. Years ago, while threatening a civil suit, this same person was able to use the District Attorney as a tool to leverage his false claims. Now, more than three years later, he wants more money. The answer is no. This case is a continuation of the 2014 blackmail scam by Mr. [Kiah] Lawson and others, including today\'s accuser. Mr. Bean is the victim and he has paid enough. We will see them in court."
Just goes to show you, even more, how twisted and screwed up people are that are high profile.
Photos from The Daily Mail.
