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| Photo Credit: AP. |
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon serial rapist is set to be released from prison in mid-December after serving nearly 36 years behind bars, almost all of his maximum sentence.
Richard
Gillmore, arrested in 1986 and called the “jogger rapist” because he staked out
victims as he ran by their homes, admitted to raping nine girls in the Portland
area in the 1970s and 80s but was only convicted in one case because of the
statute of limitations. In 1987, a jury found him guilty of raping 13-year-old
Tiffany Edens, his last known victim, in December 1986.
The
Associated Press generally does not name people who have been sexually
assaulted unless they come forward publicly. Edens has spoken out about the
assault and recently wrote on social media that she received a voicemail in
August from the state’s Victim Information and Notification Service telling her
of his impending release.
“I have been
slowly processing the reality of it all,” she wrote.
The
Oregonian, citing prison officials, reported that Gillmore was transferred in
August from Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla to the
minimum-security Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland to help
him prepare for his re-entry into the community. He will be 63 at the time of
his release in December.
KOIN, which
first reported his upcoming release, said Gillmore will remain under
supervision until 2034 and could be sent back to prison if he violates his
parole.
A judge in
the Edens case sentenced Gillmore to at least 30 years in prison with a 60-year
maximum. But a parole board cut his sentence in half in 1988, the year after he
was convicted.
Danielle
Tudor, who has said she was a teenager when Gillmore raped her in 1979, has spoken
out against his release.
“If he had
been able to have been charged for all the rapes he committed, he’d never be
getting out,” Tudor told KOIN.
Gillmore has
been classified as a sex offender at the lowest risk of reoffending. He will
have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life due to his rape
conviction, but the classification means the state and county aren’t required
to notify surrounding residents that he’s living near them.
His victims
are angered that Gillmore isn’t considered a high-risk sex offender, which
would require notification to the community wherever he lives or moves.
The Oregonian
reported that Tudor said she didn’t understand why he was being classified as a
low-level sex offender.
“He was
designated as a dangerous offender at trial,” Tudor said.