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August 19, 2005
Clackamas man gets 18 years for sex abuse
Steven Craig Bulleit's admission spares three teens from testifying publicly about the molestation.
OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas man admitted this week that he sexually abused three Clackamas High School students, including one in his care, and will serve 18 years in prison.
Under an agreement approved Monday in Clackamas County Circuit Court, 42 of 47 counts against Steven Craig Bulleit will be dismissed Friday, when he is scheduled to be sentenced.
The settlement spares the teenage victims from testifying in a trial, prosecutor Christine Landers said.
"The three young men involved were very adamant that they did not want to have to testify in public," she said. "It would have been quite difficult for them."
Bulleit pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree sodomy, involving a child younger than 14; one count of third-degree sodomy, involving a child younger than 16; and one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.
Under the agreement, he will serve 220 months in prison with credit for time served. He remains in Clackamas County Jail without bail.
Bulleit, 41, and his partner were among the first same-sex couples last year to apply for a marriage license in Multnomah County. His partner filed for divorce in February.
In April, the Oregon Supreme Court voided all 3,000 of the state's same-sex marriages.
Bulleit was the legal guardian of one of the victims, who was placed in his care as a foster child at age 9 in California. The crimes began when the boy was younger than 12, according to allegations in the grand jury indictment.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office arrested Bulleit in January after a computer technician reported finding child pornography on Bulleit's computer. Investigators found a significant amount of video footage in Bulleit's home. Landers said there was no reason to think Bulleit disseminated any of the footage.
Mark Cogan, Bulleit's attorney, said Bulleit feels bad about what happened and did not want to put the victims through any additional trauma during a trial.
"Going to trial would not have improved his situation, nor would it have been a good thing from the standpoint of the victims," Cogan said.
Bulleit has videotaped Clackamas High football games on a volunteer basis and had no affiliation with the North Clackamas School District. He also taught a sexuality class to eighth- and ninth-graders at Atkinson Memorial Church in Oregon City, according to a 2003 church newsletter.
Posted by Nealus at August 19, 2005 10:10 PM
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