Serial rapist Richard Troy Gillmore’s “advanced age” of 63 proved to be the single biggest factor in the state’s decision to classify him as the lowest level of sex offender when he leaves prison next month after more than three decades.
The classification has drawn outrage from at least three of Gillmore’s victims and spurred calls for Gov. Kate Brown or state lawmakers to intervene before he’s released to subsidized housing in Portland on Dec. 16.
It means Gillmore’s name and address won’t be on the state’s public sex offender registry and that notifying neighbors or others when he moves isn’t required or even recommended.
The controversy has, in turn, drawn attention to the tool the state uses to evaluate the risk that men convicted of sex crimes will commit new sex offenses.
The tool consists of 10 questions to measure risk factors for sex offenders, including their age, relationship history, personal history, prior charges or convictions and the characteristics of their victims. The total score determines the risk level, either low, medium or high.
Gillmore scored a zero – low risk – and was placed at Level 1, according to his test, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive from the state parole board.
A 2013 bill that required the reclassification of Oregon’s sex offenders didn’t call for a second test that would offer a more expansive picture of their risk of committing new crimes because it was considered too expensive and lengthy to administer.
If both tests had been used to evaluate Gillmore’s case, the likelihood that Gillmore’s level of risk “would be identified as low is limited to none,” said Katherine Gotch, a clinical sexual offense therapist who helped write House Bill 2549 that created the three-tiered risk assessment for Oregon’s sex offenders.
Tiffany Edens, who was 13 when Gillmore raped her in her home, called the lowest-level classification a “slap in the face” and has asked how a test with so few questions can fairly determine Gillmore’s risk.
Gillmore became known as the “jogger rapist” for having cased out the homes of his victims by running past them. A jury found him guilty of raping Edens on Dec. 6, 1986, his last known victim.
Gillmore admitted sexually assaulting nine girls but was charged in only the attack on Edens because the others fell outside the statute of limitations. Several of his other victims, however, were allowed to testify at his sentencing.
Though assessors with the state parole board who do the risk evaluations commented on the test that Gillmore had disclosed the other sexual assaults – all against girls he didn’t know – they could score him based only on the one rape charge and conviction.
Edens, along with Daniele Tudor, who was 17 when she was attacked by Gillmore in her Southeast Portland home in 1979, and Colleen Kelly, who was 13 when Gillmore broke into her Southeast Portland home and raped her in 1980, have petitioned the governor to change Gillmore’s sex offender classification.
In a letter to Brown, Edens described him as a sociopath and manipulative child rapist.
“I would hope that you would use your governing-power to appropriately designate Richard Gillmore to Level 3 SO (sex offender) at the time of his release,” she wrote. “Kate, YOU, have the POWER to PROTECT the CITIZENS of Oregon and ALL of Gillmore’s VICTIMS.”
Advocates for Gillmore’s victims agree that state lawmakers should allow higher standards of assessment in cases with extenuating circumstances like Gillmore.
A spokesperson for Brown said the governor doesn’t have the authority to change anyone’s risk score or increase the notification level.
“Governor Brown understands how difficult the release process can be for victims and their families,” press secretary Liz Merah said by email. “She is reassured that the Parole Board set a parole date for Richard Gillmore that will require him to be on community supervision until 2034 — this allows for the possibility of a return to prison should he violate the conditions of his release.”
Gillmore will face stringent monitoring once he’s out of custody and be required to undergo sex offender treatment, Merah and Multnomah County officials say.
Edens said it “boggles my mind” that the governor, “thinks this is OK,” and that Brown has no power to intervene.
“It seems like throughout this whole thing the burden has always been on the victims… And that’s wrong,” she said. “Now, it’s back on the burden of the victims to try to do something about this. It’s so frustrating.”
Richard T. Gillmore’s scored a total of zero points on a 10-question risk assessment tool called Static-99R.
TOTAL SCORE: ZERO
Here’s how Gillmore scored on the Static-99R test, developed in 1999 and the most widely used tool of its kind in the nation to evaluate a man’s risk of committing new sex crimes.
Each question is scored on a scale of -3 to 3. The total score determines the risk level. A score of -3 to 3 puts an offender at Level 1 or low-level risk; 4 to 5 at Level 2, or moderate risk; and 6 and above at Level 3, or high risk.
Some factors generate negative points, such as an age of 40 or older, 0 points if a certain factor isn’t present, while others may add between 1 to 3 points based on number of prior charges or convictions.
Gillmore got -3 points because he’s over 60. That canceled out the 3 points that added up from the other questions.
“It’s simply because of his advanced age,” said Gotch, the sex offender therapist who evaluates sex offenders in Oregon and serves as the public policy representative for the executive board of the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse.
Gillmore got 1 point each because he raped a stranger, he had no relation to his victim and he also had a non-sexual criminal conviction, first-degree burglary for breaking into his victim’s home.
He got 0 points on everything else: He had been in an intimate live-in relationship for more than two years before his 1987 conviction. He had no prior convictions on non-sexual violent crimes, no prior sex offense charges or convictions, no prior sentencing dates, no convictions for non-contact sex offenses and no male victims.
The Static-99R test is used to evaluate only male sex offenders over 18. Female sex offenders and juveniles are classified by state-contracted evaluators.
From left to right, Colleen Kelly, Tiffany Edens and Danielle Tudor, all victims of rapist Richard Gillmore, object to Gillmore’s classification as a low-level sex offender. They have testified at his prior parole hearings. Here, they were testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in support of a bill that would remove statute of limitations on rape cases where DNA is present. LC- THE OREGONIAN
NO INTERVIEW IN ASSESSMENT
Some researchers say the tool doesn’t address all relevant risk factors, particularly ones that could change over time or are specific to an individual.
That’s why the 10-question test should be only one component considered amid a broader risk evaluation, they say.
When Oregon first moved nine years ago to reclassify its registered sex offenders into a three-level system based on their risk to reoffend, the initial proposal was to combine the Static-99R test with another evaluation.
The second test – called the Stable-2007 — includes an interview of the offender covering 13 major areas that might change over time, such as concern for others, hostility toward women or impulsivity, Gotch said.
But that plan was considered too expensive because it would require additional staff, and it would have taken much longer to conduct separate interviews with each offender, she said.
Gotch pointed out that Gillmore will get the second test once he’s out of prison and placed under Multnomah County’s post-prison supervision for at least three years. Then his county supervision and treatment will be tailored to what the more comprehensive evaluation finds, Gotch said.
It’s statewide practice, she said, to have county officers use the combined test results to determine appropriate levels of supervision.
Under this combined method, the likelihood Gillmore’s level of supervision “would be identified as low is limited to none,” she said.
HIGH-RISK SUPERVISION
Despite the state’s low-risk classification for Gillmore, Multnomah County plans to place him on a high-risk supervision plan “given the unique nature of his offenses,” said Jessica Morkert-Shibley, a spokesperson for the county’s Department of Community Justice.
He will be released to housing where minors aren’t allowed in the Old Town neighborhood, she said. It’s staffed 24 hours by a social services contractor and five days a week by members of the Community Justice Department, she said.
Gillmore will be on GPS electronic monitoring, she said, restricting his movement within the city.
He also will face a strict curfew and regular check-ins, both scheduled and unscheduled, with his post-prison supervision officer, among others.
“It includes a clear prohibition of contacting victims, directly or indirectly, and prohibitions on contact with minors and places where minors may congregate,” Morkert-Shibley said.
The Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision also will require Gillmore to complete sex offender treatment, undergo random polygraph tests and stay away from schools, childcare centers, playgrounds and other places intended for use primarily by people under 18.
He will be on active supervision for at least three years and his post-prison supervision won’t expire until December 2034, meaning he could return to prison if he violates any of his supervision conditions, said Dylan Arthur, executive director of the parole board.
Because of his rape conviction, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Arthur said. But he won’t appear on the public part of the state registry, which is reserved only for people deemed Level 3, high-risk, sex offenders.
For Level 1 low-level sex offenders, the state may only alert a person who lives with the offender.
Under state law, if a sex offender is Level 2, or medium risk, the state, county or local police can notify a person who lives with a sex offender about the registrant, as well as someone with whom the sex offender has a significant relationship , neighbors, churches, parks, schools, child care centers, convenience stores, businesses and other places that children or other potential victims may frequent and a long-term care facility.
Ken Nolley, who has pushed for changes in the state’s sex offender registry since at least 2013 when the system was altered, said he winced when he heard of Gillmore’s low-risk classification.
“Something like the Static-99 actuarial table can tell you a whole lot about overall dangers out there,” he said.
But it may not apply for the rare case that isn’t fully reflected in a score based on 10 questions, he said.
He hopes lawmakers adopt an amendment that would allow “some kind of second look under certain overwhelming circumstances where the Static-99 does not seem to accurately reflect the situation.”
— Maxine Bernstein
Email [email protected]; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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