Victim tells Parole Board that rapist ‘doesn’t get it’

New evaluations of admitted serial rapist find Gillmore a danger

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Jun 24, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (43 Reader comments)

L.E. Baskow / Pamplin Media Group

Tiffany Edens (right center) weeps while retelling the story of her rape by Richard Troy Gillmore. She is being comforted by her husband Scott (right) and father Ken (off camera). A new parole consideration hearing before the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision for Gillmore was held at the Oregon State Correctional Institution on Tuesday, June 24.

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Two new psychological reports on a notorious serial rapist find the man is still a danger to the community and is likely to re-offend.

Former Troutdale resident Richard T. Gillmore, 48, argued before the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision during a marathon nine-hour hearing Tuesday, June 24, at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem that he’s done the self-help needed to be released.

However, his victim and the district attorney who put him behind bars more than 20 years ago cited two new psychological reports — both of which bolster a previous report that Gillmore remains a danger to the community.

In 1986, Gillmore raped then 13-year-old Tiffany Edens, breaking into the girl’s Troutdale home while she was home alone doing her chores.

Also known as the Jogger Rapist, who was associated with 13 East Multnomah County rapes, Gillmore admitted to raping six other women and trying to rape another in East Multnomah County during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The other rapes were too old to prosecute, but a judge in the Edens’ case sentenced Gillmore to a minimum of 30 years in prison. However, a parole board cut that sentence in half shortly after his 1987 sentencing.

Last fall, the parole board approved Gillmore’s request for parole — despite a psychological evaluation finding Gillmore had a 75-percent chance of re-offending within 10 years.

Because the board failed to notify his victim of the parole hearing, it held a second hearing in which she testified. The board came to the same conclusion: Gillmore remained a danger but could be adequately controlled in the community.

Outraged, Edens teamed with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and sued the parole board. In January, a Marion County judge found in Edens’ favor, ordering the board to conduct a third hearing.

On Tuesday, Edens, now 35, graphically detailed the attack before parole board members Steven Powers, Candace Wheeler and Darcey Baker.

“I don’t think he gets it, I still don’t think he really understands how it still affects me,” Edens said fighting back tears. “And I’m a strong woman.”

She cited recent confidential reports by Dr. F. Robert Stuckey and Dr. Gary McGuffin, who also evaluated Gillmore as part of his parole requests in 2001, 2003 and 2005 — all of which the board denied.

In Stuckey’s report dated May 22, 2008, he found that Gillmore spoke in a “very glib, superficial, and manipulative manner.”

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