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September 13, 2005
Teen accused of child sex abuse returned to jail
Tyler James Lupoli, 19, goes to the Hillsboro Library, breaking his release terms, and forfeiting $50,000 bail
HILLSBORO -- A 19-year-old Hillsboro man charged with sexually abusing children at a health club was ordered returned to jail Monday after he was seen at the Hillsboro Library.
Washington County Circuit Judge Donald R. Letourneau said Tyler James Lupoli violated his release agreement by entering the library and expressing interest in volunteering.
To be released from jail, Lupoli agreed not to go to places where children are known to congregate or to have contact with minors, including his sisters and his 17-year-old girlfriend.
"Volunteering to work in the library -- that does not fall into the harmless category," Letourneau said.
The judge said Lupoli must forfeit $50,000 of the bail he had posted. That means Lupoli must come up with another $50,000 cash, or 10 percent of $500,000 bail, to be released.
Lupoli was released from jail this summer after posting $102,000 cash on four counts of first-degree sexual abuse involving girls ages 8 and 5, and two counts of attempted first-degree sexual abuse involving two 3-year-old girls.
Lupoli allegedly touched or tried to touch the genital areas of the girls in the day care room at the 24 Hour Fitness on 6095 S.E. Tualatin Valley Highway in Hillsboro. A membership sales associate who should not have been in the Kid's Corner under club policy, Lupoli was fired after his arrest in July.
A Hillsboro resident who recognized Lupoli from news reports told authorities he saw the defendant in the Hillsboro Library at Shute Park on Aug. 31, two days after he was released from jail. Lupoli was with the 17-year-old girl.
Charlie Bailey, deputy district attorney, showed Letourneau applications for library cards signed by Lupoli and the girl. Lupoli also checked a box on the form that indicated he was interested in working as a library volunteer.
"He wanted to place himself in places where children are likely to be present," Bailey said.
Bailey also showed the judge photos from surveillance videotapes at 24 Hour Fitness. Lupoli was sitting close and bending toward four girls in dresses or skirts.
"It takes him only a short period of time" to commit the abuse, Bailey said. He asked that Letourneau set bail at $3 million. Keeping Lupoli in jail, Bailey said, "is the only way for community safety."
Chris Colburn, Lupoli's public defender, said the photos did not show actual touching, and there were "no allegations of penetration, no allegations of any other sexual contact."
Under Oregon law, first-degree sexual abuse is defined as touching the intimate areas of a person younger than 14 for sexual gratification. It is a Measure 11 crime punishable by a mandatory six years, three months in prison.
Colburn also argued that Lupoli had been dating his girlfriend for three years, and although a minor, she was in college. He asked that Lupoli be released on the bail he had already paid.
"It is regrettable Mr. Lupoli made this mistake," Colburn said. "It is regrettable that Mr. Lupoli is 19 and in love."
Posted by Nealus at September 13, 2005 01:56 PM
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