County officials push for jail renovations amid concerns for mental health, addiction treatment eastoregonian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eastoregonian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SALEM â The Oregon Senate voted unanimously on Monday, April 12, to pass Baileyâs Bill.
The bill, named for Weston-McEwen High School student Bailey Munck, increases penalties for criminal sexual contact with an underage victim if the offender was the victimâs teacher. If approved by the House and signed by Gov. Kate Brown, the legislation fixes a discrepancy. Currently, a coach convicted of sexual abuse in the third degree receives harsher penalties than a teacher who commits the exact same crime.
Munck, now 17, testified on March 25 to the Oregon Senateâs judiciary committee, telling of sexual abuse in 2019 during a volleyball road trip by Andrew DeYoe, an English teacher and also a scorekeeper for the volleyball team. DeYoe, 31, after pleading guilty to harassment that included sexual touching, spent a night in the Umatilla County Jail and will serve five years probation. He wasnât required to register as a sex offender.
WALLOWA â A man living in Wallowa faces multiple counts of sex abuse of a child in Utah.
Wallowa County sheriff s deputies on Wednesday, March 31 arrested Michael Anthony Alexis, 52, on a felony warrant out of the federal district court in Washington County, Utah, for four counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child, according to a police report.
Washington County detective Sgt. Nate Abbott said Thursday, April 8, the alleged offenses took place over about a year s time from 2019-20. Although he couldn t identify the victim, Utah law indicates anyone younger than 14 is considered a child. The charge indicates it was a child, Abbott said.
HERMISTON â When Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital opened in Hermiston, it was hailed as a sorely-needed addition to the stateâs meager supply of mental health treatment beds. But the facility closed at midnight on Thursday, April 8, after just over six months in operation, citing âunsustainableâ difficulties staffing it.
Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer said Aspen Springs had been a âwonderfulâ addition to the countyâs efforts to improve access to mental health services, and he was disappointed it would not continue.
âIt kind of took the wind out of our sails, to be honest,â he said. âIt was a huge blow.â
HERMISTON â A Hermiston man is being held in the Umatilla County Jail on a charge of attempted murder after police responded to a disturbance at a residence.
Steven Maurice Tompkins, 54, was arrested on Tuesday, April 6, after officers from Hermiston Police Department responded to the 200 block of West Beech Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. to a report of a disturbance involving a knife and a gun, according to Police Chief Jason Edmiston.
Edmiston said when officers arrived they found Tompkins, who lived at the address, actively engaged in a dispute with a 34-year-old male who also lived at the location. He said both parties were initially detained, and through subsequent investigation officers determined Tompkins was the primary aggressor and had been acting extremely erratic, and the other party had what appeared to be defensive wounds.