Ore. Gay Activist Arrested in Connection to Child Sex Case
A prominent gay rights activist in Portland, Ore., was arrested Wednesday on an indictment over alleged sex abuse in 2013 involving a young teen boy, Portland's Fox-affiliate station KPTV reports.
Terrance Bean, 66, was arrested at his home in Portland at 10:12 a.m. Wednesday after he was indicted by a Lane County grand jury. The charges are from a 2013 case involving a 15-year-old boy, according to police.
Police said the indictment charges Bean with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and one count of third-degree sex abuse, a misdemeanor, Oregon Live reports.
Portland's Sex Crime Unit detectives are leading the investigation and are working with Clackamas County and Lane County district attorney's offices. The incident allegedly involves a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy from Eugene, Ore. Oregon Live reports another person allegedly involved in the encounter is also expected to face arrest.
"The investigation began in Portland, but the criminal episode occurred in Lane County,'' police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said, according to Oregon Live.
Bean is a largely influential LGBT activist and Democratic donor, who helped found the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. He also is a major contributor to a number of Democratic presidential candidates, including President Barack Obama's campaign.
Kristen Winemiller, Bean's lawyer, released a statement on the incident, saying her client is working with the authorities and that Bean is a victim.
"Terry Bean is a highly respected community leader who has devoted his life to bettering our community," she said. "Over the course of several months in 2013-2014 Terry was the victim of an extortion ring led by several men known to law enforcement. This current arrest is connected to the ongoing investigation of that case in which Mr. Bean has fully cooperated. No allegations against Terry Bean should be taken at face value. We look forward to the opportunity to clear his name.''
Bean, who is a leading gay rights activist and a major Democratic Party fundraiser, was bailed out of around 4:22 p.m. Wednesday after posting 10 percent ($5,000) of his $50,000 bail, according to jail records. He will be arraigned on the indictment in Lane County.
Oregon Live notes that the Willamette Week did a story in June about the activist and wrote about a "love affair gone wrong," and allegations that Bean videotaped his encounters with ex-boyfriends.
In July 2012, Obama thanked Bean at a fundraiser in Portland .
"I want to thank someone who put so much work into this event, Terry Bean," Obama said of Bean, who organized the event. "Give Terry a big round of applause."
In 2008, the New York Post said Bean was a "gay-porn king pin" and reported that he raised $50,000 to $100,000 for Obama's presidential campaign. The article reports Bean is the "the sole trustee of the Charles M. Holmes Foundation, which owned Falcon Studios, Jock Studios, and Mustang Studios, the producers of about $10 million worth of all-male pornography a year."
