HRC Founder Cleared Of Sex Abuse Charges, Claims He Was Victim Of A Setup
Sex abuse charges against HRC co-founder Terry Bean were dismissed yesterday, after the alleged victim indicated he did not want to testify.
Prosectors maintained that in 2013, Bean, 67, and his then-boyfriend, 25-year-old Kiah Lawson, had sex with a 15-year-old male in a hotel room in Eugene, Oregon.
After the case was thrown out, Bean lashed out, statin he was "falsely accused and completely innocent of every accusation that was made,” and called the case "a conspiracy of lies, deceit, blackmail, malicious prosecution and homophobia.”
Earlier a grand jury indicted Bean and Lawson on charges of third-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sodomy. Prosecutors claim the longtime LGBT activist offered a proposed settlement of $200,000 that was rejected by a judge.
A lawyer for the alleged victim said he “is relieved this is finally over. He did not seek out this prosecution and made his unwillingness to testify known at every step in the process.”
She suggested the teen was being bullied by the DA's office, and was threatened him with incarceration if he did not cooperate. On Tuesday, a judge said charges could be refiled if the victim decided he was ready to testify.
Bean, who lives in Portland, is a longtime LGBT and Democratic activist. In addition to helping to launch HRC, he co-founded the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and the National Gay Games.
After the case was dismissed, he issued a statement reaffirming his innocence, and claiming Lawson cooked up a scheme to get a payday out of Bean, and even coached the victim on what to tell the police.
Bean also slammed authorities, saying "the prosecutor and the detective, thinking they had a big fish, ignored all of these facts... For the people’s sake, we hope that the overzealous, overly ambitious and likely homophobic actions against [me] have come to an end.”