Mark William Chevalier
After pleading guilty two two counts of third-degree rape and one count of third-degree sodomy, Linn County Circuit Court Judge DeAnn L. Novotny sentenced Mark William Chevalier to 270 days in jail.
Chevalier received credit for time served. He is scheduled for release from Linn County Jail on Jan. 21.
He will serve 36 months of probation and was charged $600 in fines.
A charge of third-degree rape and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct were dismissed.
Chevalier was arrested on May 27 for incidents in May. The arrest stemmed form a report that images depicting child abuse were located on a digital device owned by Chevalier. The minor female victim was known to Chevalier.
Garlinghouse Custody Case
Linn County Circuit Court Judge DeAnn L. Novotny ruled July 26 against Brandon Norman Stoering in a petition to take custody of the children of Jason Garlinghouse and Sparki Garlinghouse.
Jason Garlinghouse is in prison for murdering Sparki Garlinghouse.
In the petition, Stoering said the two children resided with him and Sparki Garlinghouse from July 2016 to February 2017.
Stoering said that he established a parent-child relationship with the children by providing them with food, shelter, nurture, love, education and support; and in all respects treated them and provided for them as if they were his own children.
Stoering’s petition said that respondent Jason Garlinghouse was unwilling or unable to care for the children.
Following a three-page analysis of the case in her ruling, Novotny concluded that Stoering allowed Sparki Garlinghouse and her children to stay in his home while Sparki Garlinghouse sought independent housing. Their relationship became romantic in October 2016.
The children’s primary residence was the Garlinghouse home although they spent every other week in the Stoering home, Novotny said. While Stoering helped supply food and shelter and occasional incidental necessities to the children, his contribution was minimal and only secondary to his new relationship with Sparki Garlinghouse.
A caring relationship with the children existed in the context of family friendship, Novotny said. It continued to grow in the early months of his relationship with Sparki Garlinghouse, but it had not yet developed into a parent-child relationship at the time of the murder.
Erika Garlinghouse did not consider Stoering a parent but rather a “fun uncle,” Novotny said. She reported her mother took care of her and her brother when at the Stoering home, and she had no memories of her and her brother when at the Stoering home when her mother wasn’t also present.
“Mr. Stoering was simply not fulfilling the children’s psychological needs for a parent at that time,” Novotny said. “After consideration of the evidence presented, the court finds that a parent-child relationship did not exist between Brandon Stoering and the Garlinghouse children.”
Matthew Everett Wood
Linn County Circuit Court issued a warrant Aug. 1 for failure to appear at an arraignment against Matthew Everett Wood, who faces charges of two counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle, first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree theft. A charge of failure to appear has been added to the case.
Wood was arrested in connection to the theft of a Jeep Wrangler and a Honda Accord on June 20.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced July 12 on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle in an Albany case. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced July 9 to a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle and second-degree burglary in a Sweet Home case. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
The Oregon Department of Corrections lists his location as Coffee Creek Intake Center, where he was admitted on July 17.