PORTLAND AREA MAN WHO USED A RUSE OF “ART” TO BIND AND RAPE WOMEN CONVICTED OF RAPE AND SEX ABUSE
- 10/16/26
CASE: 23CR06290 October 16, 2026
Portland, OR- A Multnomah County jury convicted Gabriel Forest Weiss on charges of Rape in the First Degree and Sex Abuse in the First Degree on Monday, October 5, 2026.
Earlier, the Honorable Benjamin Souede found the defendant guilty of Sex Abuse in the First Degree on Thursday, July 2nd, 2025 for abusing a different victim.
Deputy District Attorneys Aileen Santoyo and Ryan Solomon prosecuted the case for the state. After the convictions Ms. Santoyo said: “All of the victims in this case showed a huge amount of courage and strength in coming forward. Without their bravery Mr. Weiss would not be held accountable for his actions. I hope that this inspires more women to come forward. Our office vows to listen, believe, and do our best to support individuals who have suffered due to the actions of others.”
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office would like to recognize and thank Portland Police Bureau Detective Nathan Wollstein for his excellent investigative work on this case.
The DA’s Office would also like to recognize the work of MCDA Victim Advocates who help survivors through the duration of criminal cases.
THE FACTS:
The October 5th verdict stemmed from an incident in June 2011, and involved a woman we are calling L.B. She is a courageous survivor who wants the facts of her attack out in the public. She responded to a Craigslist ad wherein Mr. Weiss was seeking nude models to pose for him. Mr. Weiss arranged to meet her at his studio in inner-southeast Portland. As L.B. was modeling for Mr. Weiss, he kissed L.B. on the mouth. L.B. froze and Mr. Weiss grabbed ropes out of a nearby cupboard. Mr. Weiss tied her arms behind her back and restrained her legs using the ropes. Mr. Weiss put the rope material in her mouth and gagged her. Mr. Weiss then sexually abused, including biting her breasts and raped her. While L.B. had agreed to model for the defendant she did not agree to any sexual contact. L.B. did not report the incident until she saw a press release in 2023 seeking victims related to the defendant.
After all of these years L.B. is still outraged over what happened to her and is ashamed she did not come forward earlier.
L.B. would like to remain anonymous but wished to share this statement:
STATEMENT FROM L.B.
When I heard the word “guilty” yesterday after a three-and-a-half year criminal process, I felt free.
In 2011, when I was 22 years old, I did not report what Gabriel Forest Weiss did to me. I felt stupid and blamed myself. I thought no one would believe me. I imagined being asked questions like what I was wearing or why I had put myself into a situation where I met up with a man at 10pm. At that age, I did not understand the criminal justice system, and I did not believe it was a place that would help and protect me.
In 2015, I wrote about what happened to me in a private Facebook group. Other women responded that they experienced similar things with the same man.
For years afterward, I carried an enormous amount of guilt. I wondered whether, if I had gone to the police in 2011, it would have prevented him from hurting someone else. I considered reporting on more than one occasion, including as the national conversation around sexual assault began to change with the Me Too movement, but I believed I was outside of the statute of limitations and had no idea where I would even begin.
Then, in 2023, someone from that old Facebook group sent me a notice from the Portland police asking anyone with additional information about Gabriel Weiss to come forward. Within minutes, I emailed the detective listed and told him that Gabriel Wiess had raped me and that I believed I might still have evidence.
Less than 24 hours later, before I even had time to find and review that evidence, I was speaking with Detective Wollstein. Days later, I testified before a grand jury.
I had no idea what I was signing up for.
Coming forward did not mean telling my story once or twice and moving on. It meant years of investigation and litigation. It meant turning over private conversations with friends. It meant giving the State access to my entire digital camera, including photos from my late teens and early twenties. It meant having memories from more than a decade earlier examined word by word in court. It meant preparing for a trial that ended with a hung jury and then deciding to come back and do it all again.
I cannot change the fact that I did not report in 2011. But I can finally say that when I was given another opportunity, I did everything I could. I told the truth. I provided the evidence I had. I testified again and again. And I stayed with this process until a jury held him accountable.
At a moment when the Cornell case is prompting a national conversation about how institutions respond to reports of sexual assault, I think it is important to say what happened when I finally came forward in Portland.
I was listened to.
Detective Wolstein allowed me to tell my story and treated me with kindness. He continued looking at the evidence even though the case was older. Ryan Solomon and Aileen Santoyo from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office invested extraordinary time and resources into a difficult case. And when the first jury could not reach a verdict, they did not abandon the case and persisted in their prosecution.
That mattered.
In 2011 I photographed some of my injuries I had after the assault. At the time, I wanted a record for myself that what had happened to me was real. Fifteen years later, I am profoundly grateful that my 22-year old self took those photographs.
I would tell anyone in a similar position: you do not have to know today what you will eventually choose to do. If you safely can, preserve what you can. Save the messages. Take the photographs. Write down what you can remember. You are allowed to preserve options for your future self even if you are nowhere near ready to speak publicly or go to the police.
There is no perfect way to be a person who has survived something like this. There is no perfect memory, perfect reaction, or perfect timeline that will prevent someone from questioning you.
The fact that years have passed does not make what happened to you meaningless, and it does not mean that it is too late for someone to listen.
I want this case to be visible because I do not believe the women who came forward are the only people with information about Gabriel Weiss. If someone recognizes their own experience in this story, I hope they know that they can still speak.
And I want people carrying experiences like mine in silence to know that there are investigators, prosecutors, advocates, attorneys, witnesses, friends, and family members who will stand beside them.
This case took a village. People I had not seen in more than a decade came back to Portland and testified. My attorney, Amity Girt, went far beyond her pro bono obligations and answered what felt like an endless number of questions as I tried to understand the legal process. Allison Miller, my victim advocate, helped guide me through each stage and was consistently kind and grounding throughout the process. My work gave me the time and flexibility I needed to participate fully in this case. My husband shouldered an enormous amount of this burden alongside me. And I am deeply grateful to the jurors who took this evidence seriously and did the difficult work asked of them.
For years, I believed I had waited too long.
Last week, I learned that I had not.
Thank you.
END OF L.B. STATEMENT
Media inquiries or written questions may be sent to [email protected]. L.B. may respond at her discretion.
The July 2nd ruling stemmed from a different incident regarding T.S. In January of 2014, T.S. responded to a Craigslist ad by Mr. Weiss seeking women to model for an art project. T.S. agreed to meet with him and had an uneventful modeling session. During the second modeling session, T.S. and Mr. Weiss discussed a mutual attraction which led Mr. Weiss to come over to her and forcefully kiss her. T.S. tried to push him away and get him to stop but he held onto her and used his weight and strength to continue to kiss her. Mr. Weiss then bit her breasts multiple times, causing heavy bruising to her chest. T.S. took photos of her injuries and confronted Mr. Weiss with those injuries. Mr. Weiss responded that the bites looked good on her and T.S. never saw him again.
Mr. Weiss is in custody. A sentencing hearing will be set at a future date.
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