Suspect in restaurant attack had history of sexual assault

By KATU.com Staff Published: Jul 2, 2012 at 1:31 PM PDT Last Updated: Jul 2, 2012 at 11:54 PM PDT
Suspect in restaurant attack had history of sexual assault »Play Video
Adam Lee Brown in court on Monday afternoon. Brown pleaded not guilty to several charges related to Sunday's attack. (KATU photo)

PORTLAND, Ore. – A listing on Oregon’s sex offender registry paints a scary picture of the man police said tried to sexually assault a boy in a restaurant bathroom before stabbing him on Sunday.

Adam Lee Brown was declared a “predatory” sex offender after he was convicted for sodomy in December of 1993.

According to news reports from KATU and others at the time, Brown had unprotected sex with children and tried to infect them with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Prosecutors said he victimized nine kids, five of whom were exposed to HIV.

He targeted both male and female children between two and eight years old.

Brown sexually assaulted children who were in the care of acquaintances, and gave them drugs and alcohol, according to the sex offender registry.

He was not allowed to have contact with minors after his release or frequent places where minors regularly congregate.

He was paroled in 2004. His original sentence was 16 years, which means he would have gotten out of jail in 2009 whether his parole was denied or allowed.

Brown's ex-wife, Nancy Plambaeck, said late Monday night that she's upset with the judicial system, saying his sentence wasn't stiff enough. She said there were several red flags and doesn't think that he was supervised properly once he was out of prison.

"They (the signs) were ignored and that's why I left. I got away from him," she told KATU News by phone.

She said she still disagrees with how the Douglas County Deputy District Attorney, Bill Marshall, characterized the punishment at the time, saying that Brown was going to "die in custody so that society can be protected."

"It was just to make it go away," Plambaeck said. "It was a big thing back there with all the children and when AIDS came out and HIV and stuff, that wasn't done properly at all. It was just to make it go away."

Now that Brown is accused of trying to sexually abuse another child, Plambaeck said she's just numb.

"It's the nightmare that never ends until he dies," she said. "And then maybe there might be some peace, but it'll still haunt everybody."

According to spokesman Hank Stern with the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice, Brown was treated as a "high risk" sex offender.

In July 2011, he was sent to jail for 29 days for not reporting to his parole officer, failing a polygraph and having pornography.

Then in January 2012 he was again sent to jail for failing to report, ID theft and meth possession. He was released 90 days later.

In June of this year a warrant was again issued for Brown's arrest because he failed to report to his parole officer and abandoned his housing, Stern said.

Brown appeared in court on Monday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to charges related to Sunday's attack.

He was quiet as he stood handcuffed in the courtroom. He faces charges of attempted murder, sexual assault, assault and kidnapping from Sunday's incident.

Police said he grabbed a 10-year-old boy at a Wendy’s restaurant in Northeast Portland on Sunday afternoon and tried to sexually assault the boy in a bathroom.

When the boy fought back, police said Brown stabbed the boy.

The victim was cut several times and was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery.

Brown barricaded himself in the bathroom for several hours before eventually turning himself in.

When he first was arrested in the early 90s, Brown's case made national headlines and was the talk of Oregon, especially in his hometown of Roseburg.

The former Marine was 30 years old at the time when he was first accused of raping young children.

One mother told KATU at the time that her son was drugged and repeatedly raped by Brown.

"These families were emotionally torn, worried about their children," said Bill Marshall, a Douglas County deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case. "Worried about whether they will come down with the HIV virus."

Another parent said Brown gained access to her child through his work as a preacher. She said Brown told her son he now had AIDS and that he was going to spread it to other people.

KATU reporters Thom Jensen, Emily Sinovic and Meghan Kalkstein contributed to this report.