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Courts round-up: Lebanon man faces multiple sex counts

Cody Dean Coulter, 23, was arraigned on Feb. 12 in Linn County Circuit Court on charges of unlawful penetration and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 2010 and 2018 against a child younger than 8 years old.

He is being held without bail in Linn County Jail. His next court date is Feb. 26.

Time extension granted in marijuana grow lawsuit

Defendants in a civil lawsuit involving a marijuana grow in the Butte Creek Estates area in rural Lebanon were granted an extension on Feb. 7 in response to a request filed Feb. 2 by counsel for the defendants, Mark Allen Owenby, Michelle Annette Page, Jenny Rebecca Silveira, Howard Dee Brown III, William Walter Templeton, Jr., Elisha Templeton, and Bryan David PhiLoop

Among the reasons listed are that the defendants “only recently engaged counsel on this matter” and counsel needs additional time “to speak with his clients, gather information, and review documents; and some of the individual defendants have not yet been served.”

The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 1 by a number of residents of the Butte Creek Estates area.

The plaintiffs say they have been damaged by a marijuana grow at the property on Hillside Lane.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Eugene by Tami and Robert Ainsworth, Karl and Lucinda Frink, Gordon and Elaine Griswold, John and Linda Lindsey, and William and Suzanne Whitaker – all land owners who live on Hillside Lane or Butte Creek Road, off of Rock Hill Drive.

The complaint accuses the defendants of violating federal racketeering law and causing a private nuisance.

Counsel for the plaintiffs, Rachel E. McCart, of Preserve Legal Solutions, LLC, in Beaverton,  did not oppose the motion, which asks to delay a court appearance until March 16.

Portland attorneys Alexander M. Tinker, of Tonkon Torp LLP and William Greg Lockwood, of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP are representing the defendants.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane.

Discovery in the case is to be completed by April 4, 2018, according to the court docket. A Joint Alternate Dispute Resolution Report is due by May 4, 2018.

Boy Scouts of America, Cascade Pacific Council named in civil suit

The Boy Scouts of America and Cascade Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts, an Oregon nonprofit, are named as defendants in a civil suit filed by the family of a victim of Douglas James Young, Jr.

Young, 46, was sentenced in January to 282 months in prison after pleading no contest to 12 sex-abuse related charges. He faced 43 charges for charges that involved 10 victims.

The civil complaint alleges that Young had “previously engaged in common grooming patterns known to defendants, based on previous reports of sexual abuse; and defendants learned that Young had previously been accused of child sexual abuse.”

Young was a Boy Scout Troop leader in Lebanon and, in that role, befriended the plaintiff and molested him “on multiple occasions in 2017, while the plaintiff was a 12-year-old boy,” according to the complaint.

According the Lebanon Police Department, officers had contact with Young over the past 12 years, including two times for alleged sex abuse. No charges were filed in those instances.

The complaint alleges that the defendants knew of the accusations but “allowed Young to continue to serve in his position as Scout leader and remain involved with the scouting program.

“Defendants’ conduct in relation to Young was consistent with an internal policy implemented by the defendants called ‘probation.’”

The plaintiff is asking for noneconomic damages in the amount of $6 million, the exact amount to be proven at trial.

The Boy Scouts have 30 days to file a response.

The plaintiff is seeking $2 million in economic damages for costs and future costs associated with counseling, psychiatric, psychological and medical treatment, according to the complaint.

Young was convicted of three counts of first-degree sex abuse, four counts of second-degree sex abuse, one count of third-degree sex abuse and four counts of attempting to use a child in display of sexually explicit conduct.

Twelve counts of first-degree sex abuse, six counts of second-degree sex abuse, four counts of third-degree sex abuse and nine counts of second-degree sodomy were dismissed.