FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 14, 2018
Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Elimination investigation results in 180 month prison sentence
Today, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill announced that 67-year-old Jihad Eldeen Moore Jr. received a 180 month prison sentence.
“I’m happy to have closure and to help others have the confidence to report rapes and/or sexual abuse,” the victim said in a prepared statement.
The defendant was convicted of two counts of rape in the first degree and one count of sodomy in the first degree on October 31, 2018 by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Thomas M. Ryan.
Judge Ryan ruled that 150 months of the total prison sentence are subject to Ballot Measure 11.
“This prison sentence is warranted because of the defendant’s deliberate and predatory actions in seeking out a naïve young woman, manipulating her into following him to an isolated area, threatening her with a firearm, and then subjecting her to multiple acts of sexual assault,” said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Tara Gardner who prosecuted this case.
At trial, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office presented evidence to show this stranger-on-stranger incident occurred in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland on June 14, 1996 and that the victim made a report to medical professional and law enforcement that same day.
In 2015, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office sought, and was awarded, a grant from the District Attorney’s Office of New York (“DANY Grant”) to test previously untested sexual assault kits.
The victim’s sexual assault kit was one of those submitted to a private lab in Utah for testing under the DANY Grant. After receiving the results from the Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory in November 2017, the Portland Police Bureau’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) unit re-opened the investigation.
During trial, the victim testified about the fear she had that the defendant would kill her during the sexual assault and about the harm, both physical and mental, the defendant inflicted by forcibly attacking her that night.
“You broke me down and made me question my trust and faith in people and the world, but I made a decision that day: I would not let you win. I would not let you break me. I would not let you change me. I would not let you ruin me and you know what, you didn’t. I am still a nice, trusting, happy person who is not scared of the world…I chose not to let you have any more power over my life and my future,” the victim said in court.
On the day the defendant was convicted, the State of Oregon announced that it had cleared the backlog of more than 5,000 Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) kits.
In a statement released December 14, the Portland Police Bureau’s Sex Crimes Unit said, “It is important for survivors to know that even after a significant time has passed that the Portland Police Bureau is dedicated to providing the best possible service to victims of sexual assault. The team assembled to review and investigate these cases are determined to seek justice where it is possible and anticipate more resolutions in the future.”
Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Elimination Project
In 2015, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, along with the Portland Police Bureau, Gresham Police Department, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory collaboratively initiated a project to process thousands of untested Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) kits in Multnomah, Marion and Lane counties.
District Attorney Underhill and others quickly identified funding from the New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY) and worked collectively with the Portland Police Bureau’s Sex Crimes Unit after the City of Portland received a grant from U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant Program.
DANY awarded the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office a total of $1,995,453 in September 2015. Using those funds, a coordinated effort involving local law enforcement and the Oregon State Police was launched to send SAFE kits, dated 2014 or older from Multnomah, Lane and Marion counties, to a private lab in Utah for testing.
In early 2018, an additional 302 SAFE kits from 13 other Oregon counties were sent to the lab using funds from the DANY grant. In total, nearly 3,000 SAFE kits from Oregon were sent to be tested. As of October 2018, all of the SAFE kits identified under the DANY grant, have been tested.
In Oregon, Senate Bill 1571, known as "Melissa's Law," was the Oregon Legislature's response to ensuring all sexual assault kits, except for anonymous kits, are sent to the Oregon State Crime Laboratory for timely testing.
The Portland Police Bureau implemented a full submission policy in February 2015 that mandates every SAFE kit, with the exception of anonymous kits, be sent to the OSP Forensic laboratory.
Results from the kits continue to be investigated and survivors of sexual assaults are being notified through the Rose Project. The PPB Sex Crimes Unit, a victim-centered and trauma-informed detail, encourages those who have had a SAFE kit collected prior to 2015 to contact the roseproject@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0125.
Current Multnomah County SAFE kit criminal cases (as of December 14, 2018)
State of Oregon vs Jihad Eldeen Moore - 18CR13996 – Convicted Oct. 31, 2018
State of Oregon vs Chanh Van Tran - 18CR25167 - Pending Trial
State of Oregon vs Curtis Clint Williams - 17CR37474 - Convicted in June 2018
State of Oregon vs Steven Guy Tubbs - 17CR08640 - Convicted in August 2018
State of Oregon vs Jose Oscar Rosales - 17CR29317 - Sentenced to 210 days in jail, 60 months of PPS
State of Oregon vs Ricky Alexander Harrison - 18CR59141 - Pending arraignment
#MCDA#
Contact: Brent Weisberg, Communications Director
Phone: 503.988.6567
Email: Brent.Weisberg@mcda.us