Following weeks of campus disturbance, Jeremiah True, who started as a freshman at Reed College in the fall of 2014, was arrested by Portland Police on the evening of Thursday, April 16, on one count of disorderly conduct in the second degree, one count of sexual abuse in the third degree, and two counts of harassment.
As of Wednesday, April 22, he is being held at Multnomah County Detention Center on one count of sexual abuse in the third degree (Class A Misdemeanor), which Oregon law defines as when “the person subjects another person to sexual contact and… the victim does not consent to the sexual contact,” and one count of harassment (Class A Misdemeanor) on “subjecting such other person to offensive physical contact.” His bail is set at $2,500 for each charge, and his status remains unsentenced.
True was also tried on the charges of two counts of harassment (Class B Misdemeanor), which is defined as “publicly insulting such other person by abusive words or gestures in a manner intended and likely to provoke a violent response,” and on one count of disorderly conduct in the second degree (Class B Misdemeanor), which is defined as “with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, the person… makes unreasonable noise.” According to his booking report, which can be found online, True’s status for these charges is “released,” and his bail for these charges has been set at $0.
True, who was excluded from campus on March 31, is said to have “walked up to and caressed the hair and arm of a female who was among a team of students practicing at Normandale Park, at the intersection of Northeast 57th Avenue and Halsey Street,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court obtained by The Oregonian. The affidavit further detailed that “True walked off, talking to himself, but returned to the park about 30 minutes later and approached a 17-year-old female and touched her breast with his open hand, and make a remark about her chest.”
A member of the girls’ rugby team True targeted, @a1better, discussed the incident on Twitter, tweeting, “Got to see my coaches beat the hell outta this crackhead at the park who was touchin’ some of our girls.”
According to court records obtained by The Oregonian, True stated to officials that “Someone said I was on acid.” Additionally, court officials stated that “True appeared to have lost any concept of time.”
When asked about True’s current status as a Reed College student in light of his exclusion from campus, Director of Community Safety Gary Granger said in an interview with The Quest, “Yes. You are a student until one of a couple of things happens. One is which the Judicial Board expels you: then you are no longer a student.”
And could that possibly be the outcome of True’s ongoing saga with the College?
“Yes. Hypothetically the J-Board can expel, they can suspend, they can put someone on disciplinary probation, they can decide community sanctions and so forth, they can prohibit someone from being in housing, those kinds of things,” detailed Granger. “You can presume that if he remains excluded that there was a Judicial Board [case filed against him] — I don’t think it’s a secret that CRS [Community Rights Subcommittee] brought a case. I won’t speak to whether or not, and if so, how many no-contact orders there are.”
Speaking on how True’s arrest might affect the Reed community, Granger said: “The fact that someone has been arrested, you know, for particular crimes, makes us think back through our threat assessment and think ‘Does this change our sense of safety or lack of safety or potential risk of violence?’ And so if we remain silent and there’s no big campus alert that comes out, it doesn’t mean that we’re not paying attention. It means that we’ve looked at it and gone ‘Ok, we don’t see anything at risk.’ You know, people can read between the lines or look at the public record about his arrest, and draw their own conclusions. Does it change the complexion of how we would feel if he did come back to campus? Maybe. Like I said, I have no evidence that he’s actually come back to campus since he was excluded, and if I feel like he poses a risk, then you’ll get one of those urgent emails or text messages from me.”
True’s booking record, in which his name is misspelled as “Jerimiah True”, is available online from www.msco.us. It is expected to be updated as more information on his charges become available.