BEND (OR)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
February 9, 2026
By Justine Lookenott
A central Oregon pastor who served 16 years in jail for abusing a 13-year-old girl is back in ministry after his 2007 conviction was overturned.
Bend, Oregon prosecutors considered re-charging Jeremy Shane Hall, a former pastor in the mountain town of Sisters, according to The Bulletin. But they decided to drop the case.
Deputy District Attorney Aaron Brenneman submitted a motion to dismiss in September. He said that because of the amount of time that has passed, there is a lack of evidence and available witnesses, making a retrial impossible.
Hall relocated east to Hermiston, a small Oregon city on the Columbia River gorge, when he was released from prison. TRR confirmed he is now the pastor of Echo Community Church on Bonanza Street in the town of Echo, just south of Hermiston. The church did not respond to phone calls asking for a comment.
The church has regularly posted Hall’s sermons online since September 2024.
“Doggone stinking sin,” Hall preached in the first sermon. “Jesus goes, ‘Alright,’ and what was dirty with sin is now clear again. That’s what Jesus does. That’s what he does for every one of us.”
Back in 2005, Hall was arrested after a 13-year-old girl accused him of fondling her while she was babysitting Hall’s daughter at his home in 2005, according to The Bulletin. At the time, Hall was the pastor of Christ Church of New Beginnings in Sisters.
The girl also testified that Hall touched her inappropriately as she sat in his kitchen and a second time in his living room. She alleged that Hall had come home from a night out and appeared drunk. The girl said under oath that as she slept in a bed with Hall’s daughters, he lay down with them and touched her again.
Hall and his daughters disputed her testimony. Hall admitted on the stand that he had been in bed with them but claimed he had not touched the girl.
Two doctors told the court that the babysitter had been sexually abused.
A jury found Hall, then 35, guilty of five counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of unlawful sexual penetration.
The 2007 article from The Bulletin also reported that Hall had been charged with the “stalking, menacing and telephonic harassment” of a former female parishioner in a different case. The 28-year-old woman told The Bulletin that Hall first started making inappropriate comments about their relationship in 2005. The woman was married and told Hall to stop contacting and making advances toward her, which Hall allegedly ignored. She and her husband called the sheriff’s office after Hall left her 10 messages in one night.
When Hall was sentenced for the assault on the 13-year-old, Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Sullivan called the minister a “smooth talking predator,” according to a 2007 KTVZ article. The judge said that he found it “troubling” that Hall has abused a position of trust and showed no signs of remorse for his actions. Sullivan sentenced Hall to 19 years in prison.
The jury’s verdict, however, was 11-1. In 2022, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that non-unanimous jury decisions are unconstitutional. This decision follows the 2020 US Supreme Court ruling that the Sixth Amendment requires a unified verdict when charging a defendant with a serious offense.
Hall was released from prison in 2023, with nearly three years left on his original sentence.
A similar case occurred in Portland, Oregon. Michael Sperou, the former pastor and co-founder of North Clackamas Bible Community, was convicted in 2015 of the sexual abuse of a child in his church in the 1980s and 1990s. The case was overturned in 2019, because witnesses called Sperou’s accuser a “victim” during the trial.
In 2020, he was tried again and convicted 11-to-1 jury. That conviction was overturned later the same year..
Sperou was tried and convicted a third time in 2023. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to a 2023 article from KOIN 6 News.
The father of two of the victims, Ken Garrett, was featured on podcasts 116 and 117 of The Roys Report, “Escaping & Healing from Abusive Churches.” Garrett said Sperous returned to the pulpit when his sentence was overturned.
Hall moved to about 200 miles northeast, found another church and returned to ministry.