Former Gresham Pastor Sentenced for Child Sexual Abuse

By Therese Bottomly
Oregonian
May 2, 2018

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/05/former_gresham_pastor_sentence.html

A former Gresham pastor has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for sexually abusing a former family member.

The Bulletin newspaper reports Jamie Worley was sentenced Monday, several weeks after his conviction in a case that involved a child in Bend between 2002 and 2004.

The victim addressed the court, saying the childhood abuse has made it difficult for her to maintain romantic relationships and interact with customers at her job. She said the smell of Worley's brand of cologne "makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up."

Defense attorney Richard Cohen says the defense is appealing the verdict.

The allegations against Worley were made in 2012. The trial was delayed by another trial with the same victim in Tillamook, where Worley and the girl had also once lived. A jury there found him not guilty of several charges and deadlocked on others.

The drama on Monday in Bend came down to whether Judge Beth M. Bagley would choose to run three 75-month sentences concurrently — as the defense had asked — or consecutively, as the prosecution asked.

Bagley said that despite an expert witness who testified Worley represented a low level of risk to the community, the pain he caused his victim needed to be addressed in her sentence.

"We as a society say child sexual abuse is intolerable," she said.

Bagley ultimately gave Worley two consecutive 75-month sentences, with the third to run concurrently. Worley is a former pastor of the Powell Valley Church, according to a sentencing memorandum.

-- The Associated Press

Contact: tbottomly@oregonian.com