Tag: Oregon
Oregon doctor claims sperm was improperly used to father at least 17 kids
An Oregon doctor got a big surprise when he submitted his DNA to Ancestry.com — the test revealed he had 17 children he’d known nothing about.
It turned out a fertility clinic may have used his sperm without his permission to father the children — and now he worries he could have even more rugrats running around without his knowledge, he claims in a $5.25 lawsuit reported by The Oregonian.
Bryce Cleary, now 53, donated his sperm to the Oregon Health & Science University 30 years ago as a medical school student, under an agreement that only allowed for it to be used to conceive five children, he claims in his suit.
“I wanted to help people struggling with infertility and I had faith that OSHU would act in a responsible manner and honor their promises,” Cleary told reporters.
After graduating, Cleary married and had three sons of his own and adopted a daughter. But in March 2018, two sisters contacted Clearly looking for information about their biological dad.
After submitting his DNA to the genealogical website Ancestry.com, Clearly says he discovered he was the father to those girls — as well as to 15 other people.
But “there could be a huge number of kids out there,” he said.
At least two of the offspring conceived through OSHU went to the same schools, church or social activities as the children he had with his wife, Cleary claims.
That means the clinic breached another promise: that Cleary’s sperm be used only for couples living outside Oregon, in order to lessen the chances the offspring would meet or become romantically involved, states the lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
“The idea that you can produce that many children from one donor and throw them all in the same region?” Cleary asked. “There has got to be some reforms.”
Also, Cleary says the clinic was supposed to keep his information private, but didn’t.
All of the promises OSHU allegedly made, “were a lie,” Cleary said, adding that his donation was “distributed locally and in a largely irresponsible manner.”
The lawsuit claims that Cleary “incurred extreme mental and emotional pain, anguish and suffering, which have all had a significant and negative impact on his personal, parental and marital relationships.”
OSHU said it couldn’t comment on the case for confidentiality reasons.
Photo Credit: AP
Man tries to trade cannabis for a car, ends up in jail
ALBANY, Ore. — Marijuana is legal in Oregon, but you can’t barter it for a car.
Police in Albany, Oregon, said Tuesday a car dealer posted a Mazda SUV for sale on an online marketplace on Friday. A man contacted the dealer and offered to trade cannabis for the car.
Matthew Franks, 38, of Independence, Oregon, showed up at a parking-lot rendezvous site that evening, expecting to meet the car seller.
Instead, police were waiting for him.
Police spokesman Brad Liles says Franks was arrested and put into the Linn County Jail. Liles says police seized 5.4 pounds of marijuana, less than the agreed-upon amount.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Franks had an attorney.
Though marijuana is legal in Oregon, sales are regulated and those in the business must be licensed.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/14/man-tries-to-trade-cannabis-for-a-car-ends-up-in-jail/
Woman arrested after police chase in stolen ambulance with patient inside
An Oregon woman charged with stealing an ambulance last Sunday while paramedics performed CPR on an unconscious woman had one question after her arrest, according to a report.
“Why did they leave it unlocked?,” asked suspect Christy Lynn Woods, 37, of Roseburg, according to an affidavit reviewed by the Oregonian.
According to court documents, Woods drove the ambulance through downtown Roseburg, then proceeded north on Interstate 5, leading police on a chase for nearly 30 miles — reaching a speed of 85 mph, the newspaper reported.
At one point, Woods struck a police vehicle that was traveling ahead of her in order to divert traffic, the report said.
The impact totaled the police vehicle and left Oregon State Police Sgt. Ken Terry with some minor injuries, the News-Review of Roseburg reported.
Later, Woods drove the ambulance over a strip of spikes set up by police near Rice Valley, and eventually exited the ambulance at a gas station, where she was arrested, the newspaper reported.
It was Woods’ eighth arrest this year, the report said.
Woods was booked on 13 charges, including assault, interfering with paramedics, criminal mischief and reckless driving, the Oregonian reported.
According to Portland’s KOIN-TV, it was Woods’ 39th arrest in Douglas County since 2013.
In February, she was convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct after allegedly trying to hit bar patrons with an alcohol bottle, yelling slurs and kicking a police officer, according to the News-Review.
The condition of the unconscious woman being assisted by the paramedics was unknown.
Tim Novotny, general manager of Bay Cities Ambulance, told the News-Review that the recovered ambulance was sent to a garage for a repair estimate.
In 2016, another Roseburg woman, Jolene Marie Barnes, was arrested for stealing an ambulance, the News-Review reported. She was later convicted on a first-degree aggravated theft charge and sentenced to 22 days in jail, the report said, then received another 60 days in jail for violating her probation.
Woman jailed after inmate boyfriend dies from meth-laden kiss
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon woman whose inmate boyfriend died from a meth-laden kiss after a prison visit was sentenced to two years behind bars Tuesday on a drug conspiracy charge.
Melissa Ann Blair and Anthony Powell shared a long kiss at the end of a visit last year at the Oregon State Penitentiary and she passed seven tiny balloons filled with methamphetamine into his mouth. Two of the balloons ruptured in Powell’s stomach a short time later and he died of methamphetamine toxicity, prosecutors have said.
U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez said Blair’s actions were part of a scheme devised by Powell and others to get drugs inside the prison. There was a dispute as to whether Blair participated of her own free will, but Powell shared responsibility for his own death, Hernandez said.
“It was tragic and sad but he shares responsibility for what happened,” the judge said.
The 41-year-old was serving a life sentence for aggravated murder in the stabbing death of his mother-in-law, according to court records.
Besides two years in federal prison, the judge also ordered Blair, 46, to complete three years of post-release supervision and participate in drug treatment and mental health programs.
She did not make a statement in court. Her sister, who attended the hearing, declined to comment. Blair felt coerced by Powell even though he was behind bars, her attorney, John Ransom, said outside court. She used methamphetamine but was not addicted, he said.
“It was a very Svengali-type situation where he had total control over her life,” Ransom said. “She had to do whatever he said.”
Powell’s close friend, Brandy Pokovich, attended the hearing and said she became pen pals with him after he wrote to her husband — a former inmate — and she replied to him instead. Over a dozen years, Pokovich said, they formed a deep bond through letters, phone calls and visits.
She called herself Powell’s “sister by choice” and believed he felt remorse for his crime, she told the judge.
“Now, because of the choices that were made, I no longer can pick up the phone and hear his voice, I can’t go on a visit and see his big cheesy smile and get the best hug in the world,” she said in a victim impact statement.
“He was not just an inmate. He was a very loved and cared-for person who had a family that would always be there no matter what,” she said.
Outside court, Pokovich said she helped Powell find girlfriends by using her social media accounts and introduced him to Blair.
Four other defendants in the case, like Blair, have pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge and will be sentenced in the coming weeks.
Sicko wanted for hurling semen at women in supermarkets
Police are searching for a creep accused of hurling semen on women in Portland supermarkets.
The man allegedly follows female customers around grocery stores, throws semen on them and then walks away, according to news station KIRO.
One victim said that he threw bodily fluid at her twice — once in the store and another time in the parking lot.
“It’s creepy. I think you’re in disbelief,” the victim, who didn’t want to be identified, told news station KGW-TV. “Is this really happening? It’s disgusting, who would do this? And then it goes through your mind, was he watching me this whole time?”
Detectives said there could be more victims in Oregon unaware that he attacked. Authorities in Beavertown and Milwaukie are also investigating similar incidents.
Police said that the suspect is a Hispanic male in his 20s to 40s, and are asking for the public’s help identifying him. A surveillance image of the suspect has been released from an incident on April 5.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to contact Portland Detective Chris Traynor at 503-823-0889.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/23/sicko-wanted-for-hurling-semen-at-women-in-supermarkets/
Man holding human head stabs store clerk; mother found dead
A man killed his mother on Mother’s Day at a rural Oregon home, then showed up at a grocery store in a nearby town carrying a decapitated human head and began stabbing a checkout clerk before being subdued, authorities said Monday.
Officers determined the head the man was carrying belonged to his mother, the Sandy Police Department said.
An autopsy was underway Monday on the body of Tina Marie Webb, 59, the same day that her son, 36-year-old Joshua Lee Webb, was booked on charges of murder and attempted murder in the case. He has not yet made a court appearance.
The gruesome chain of events unfolded in two tiny, rural towns once known for logging about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Portland and sent shock waves through Estacada, where most people knew the white-haired checkout clerk identified as 66-year-old Michael Wagner for his warmth and quick sense of humor.
David Webb, the father of Joshua Lee Webb, sobbed as he struggled to process his wife’s death and his son’s arrest in one horrible day.
Joshua Webb had vision problems and received Social Security payments, his father said. He lived at home so his parents could care for him, his father said, adding that they had recently bought him a dog because he wanted one.
His mother had said she believed her son was depressed, but David Webb said he never saw any indication of that when he spoke with his son.
“I never foresaw a problem. If I had I would have stopped it,” David Webb said, before bursting into loud sobs during a phone interview with The Associated Press. “I just can’t believe I lost my wife and son in one day. … I don’t know. I wish I did. I wish I had some answers, but I don’t. I waited all my life to retire with my wife, and now I can’t. That’s all I know.”
The bizarre sequence began Sunday afternoon — Mother’s Day — in Colton, a once-significant logging town about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Portland.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said Webb killed his mother at their rural home, but it did not provide more details.
Joshua Webb then showed up at a Thriftway in downtown Estacada, about 12 miles to the north. When he entered the small grocery store, he was covered in blood, had a large “kitchen-type” knife and was carrying a severed human head, authorities said.
He began stabbing a store employee, but he was quickly overwhelmed by other employees, who held him until police arrived, authorities said.
“He didn’t say anything after he was subdued,” said Ernie Roberts, interim police chief in nearby Sandy, Oregon, said Monday.
“He was in like a catatonic state, wasn’t speaking to anybody,” Roberts said, adding that the only thing he said during the encounter before his arrest was that he was thirsty. Sandy provides police services for Estacada, which also has around 2,500 residents.
Wagner, the grocery store checkout clerk, was hospitalized and was expected to survive.
Residents who gathered outside the police tape Monday said Wagner had worked for years at the store, first at the produce department and then at the checkout counter.
Customers stopped by in a steady stream to drop off balloons as a tribute in front of the store and to sign a giant get-well poster. A small collection of candles also grew on the other side of the parking lot, just in front of yellow police tape that covered nearly an entire block.
Inside Lew’s Drive-In, next door to the grocery store, customers talked of nothing but the stabbing and of Wagner, whom everyone seemed to know. Customers who had been in the grocery store during the stabbing took refuge in the diner Sunday, but nobody had seen much, said Marvin Flora, the diner’s owner.
“It was traumatic, but it happened so fast that nobody really saw what was going on,” he said. “One lady came in this morning and said she actually saw somebody come in with something that was bloody and was carrying something with his arm.”
As residents swapped stories, Flora stood by a growing cluster of balloons and shouted out details of Wagner’s condition to drivers who slowed along the main street to check in.
“He’s super nice and outgoing. He’s the epitome of what this place stands for,” he said. “He always has jokes for you in the line, and he goes out of the way to know your name.”