Documents detail how violent sex offender dropped off radar
PORTLAND, Ore. – Dozens of unreleased documents obtained by KATU News late Thursday detail how everyone lost track of a violent sex offender.
Adam Brown was convicted last month of sexually assaulting and stabbing a 10-year-old boy inside a Northeast Portland Wendy's restaurant in July.
Six months before the attack a man from Illinois, Steve Bates, contacted parole officers worried about what Brown would do.
The KATU On Your Side Investigators started looking into potential missteps in the Brown case after Bates, an old Marine friend of Brown, contacted KATU.
"I said this guy, he's going to hurt somebody. Trust me, he's going to hurt somebody. He called me at one time before, turned around and did what he did and he's doing it again, and I guarantee he's going to hurt somebody," Bates told KATU's Anna Canzano by phone.
According to the documents, Bates called Brown's probation officer Jan. 7 to say Brown left a disturbing message. The probation officer called Bates back two days later and wrote down Brown was drunk when he called in the middle of the night.
She contacted local authorities who said there didn't appear to be a real threat. The probation officer called around to find out exactly where Brown was and his current state of mind.
The next week she wrote Brown was under arrest in Coos County and charged with stealing mail.
The probation officer worked with Brown in jail for the next three months, focusing on his mental health status. There was no mention in the documents about Bates’ original concern.
Brown was placed in a facility to help him re-enter society and find housing. But on April 13 Brown's parole officer noted she was worried about Brown's mental state.
Four days later Brown was found defecating on the walls. He was moved to another facility.
On May 29 Brown was checked into the VA Hospital for treatment.
At some point in the next week and a half, Brown left the hospital. His probation officer discovered he was gone June 8. But the probation officer wrote she couldn’t get an answer of when he checked out.
The next week she asked for a warrant for his arrest.
Then two weeks later, Brown's probation officer noted that the warrant wasn't completely entered into the system and no agencies were actively looking for him.
Three days later Brown was arrested at the Northeast Portland Wendy's after attacking a boy in the bathroom.
They still haven't hung this creep yet!!??
The joy of a disfunctional bureaucracy.
 @Mikey Exactly. How does any probation/parole agent keep up with the ever increasing case-load? They cannot...
Once again... so glad this boy made it out alive. Hope he's doing okay, these days. As to the rest of what happened... TOTAL FAILURE!!! Regardless of the circus going on during this latest attack, he was and is a violent sex offender. Which is why he was on probation. He should be locked up for life. There is no cure.
Yet another instance where the predictable outcome of a 'grey area' between mental health and judicial response led to an assault on a citizen.Â
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Sooner or later, the government and the citizens of this state and country are going to have to realize and accept that there is a very large overlap in many instances between the judiciary and the mental health/human services departments when it comes to individuals like Mr Brown.Â
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I cannot say with any certainty, but the 'dots' that I connect from this story tell me that his parole/probation officers (undoubtedly buried under hundreds, if not thousands, of individual parolees) presumed that he was a mental health problem, and the DHS presumed that they had effectively 'handed him off' to the judiciaries responsibility. Even when someone close to him attempted to raise an alarm, and that warning was backed up by repeated incidence of obvious mental health problems, both arms of the government failed to act in either his, or the public best interests and place him into state custody. I suspect that the real reason likely comes in the form of dollar signs.Â
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'Get them stable enough to put them in a halfway house' is NOT an adequate mental health response, insofar as protecting the public. Nor is 'the letter of the law did not allow us to keep him in jail longer'. As I said above, the inevitable, predictable outcome of such a mindset is a very real public menace being given free access to plenty of potential victims. A ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off.Â
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I have neither the legal knowledge base, or the occupation that would allow me to work towards finding a legal remedy, but something desperately needs to change. Balancing Mr Browns (and similar individuals) Constitutionally guaranteed rights against the judicial protections guaranteed to citizens not 'on the RADAR' of the judicary & mental health system is a difficult task, that is for sure. But, it's a job that we elect people to do. While it's politically more profitable to stick to 'high profile' issues, it's equally as important (IMO, more so) that our Legislative and Congressional representatives also tackle such issues.Â
 @MarkKpic You, Sir, have an incredible grasp on exactly what is wrong and they do not vote so are forgotten especially in the State of ORYGUN.
This is what happens when you put your faith into big government.
 @Jamie Yes, that is why I have a few weapons and plenty of ammunition for each which reminds me, I need to order another 500 rounds of .45 and a bunch more .44 magnum...
 @Jamie Or when right-wing wackjobs continually cut just about every layer of government. Surprise!Â
@davejpdx Right-wing wackjobs? How about the left-wing nutjobs that think everybody is a victim of being born? Take this psycho to the river, put a bullet in his head and let the fishes take care of the rest. At least he'd contribute to something that way. Better yet, let him stay with Khitzy down in Salem.
Okay class, let's count how many balls were dropped here......
 @pdxd Hey, we can form a mock fraternity like five of us did 1975 at the  UO. We called it, 'Tri Balla Bounca' and even had t-shirts made up with, 'It Takes Balls To Juggle' printed on the back.
 @pdxd Um? All of them?
Government ineptness from beginning to end. As usual, putting innocent lives at risk.
What happened to the Ankle Bracelets?
 @lee986321 The last time I checked, a lot of agencies stopped using them because they too often failed and if some skel was resourceful it could easily be tampered with.
Once again government lets the citizens down. It is to be expected.
33 years in prison...probably means 7 years of real time, then out on parole where they will lose track of him again. Â
that sick POS should be silenced forever
OMG! The VA's One-Size-Fits-All SOP are handfuls of meds that don't work, never-ending group-therapy nonsense, and 12-Step religious AA/NA cult "Higher Power"Â treatment.....
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That's not help.....that's a RECIPE FOR DISASTER!
 @August100 Indeed. This is the same organization that left surgical towels in a man's body after kidney surgery. It took them more than three months to realize and correct their error. This is why I took my chances with Kaiser (and their "Dr. Death" legacy) to have the last bits of shrapnel removed from my leg.
Their mental health program is ineffective, at best. They probably made this guy's problems worse.
@August100 the VA = socialized government-provided health care. Get used to it.
The cast of characters dropped the ball at every turn.. The friend who knew him calls the local probation officer and he/she reports no immediate danger.. Wow ... Another huge law suite in Oregon because the local dim wits can't do their job correctly .. What a shame..