According to court documents, the lawyer for Eric Stearns, the choir teacher at St. Helens High School who has been accused of sexually abusing six kids since 2015, argues that prosecutors used private documents that a former assistant principal had wrongfully kept and then given to the police.
Jennifer Myrick, the defense attorney for Stearns, claims that Darcy Soto, who served as assistant principal under Principal Katy Wagner at St. Helens High School from July 2018 to July 2020, kept private school documents when she left the district in violation of district policy and gave them to St. Helens police.
However, according to a court filing, Myrick argues that the documents Soto provided investigators were incomplete and that the full record will demonstrate that the accusations against Stearns were thoroughly examined by the state Teachers Standards and Practices Commission, the St. Helens Education Association, the high school, and the school district.
Soto is one of three witnesses who recently testified before a grand jury in Columbia County that produced an indictment against Wagner on Tuesday afternoon. The panel accused Wagner of breaking the law, which requires her to notify the police or a state child abuse hotline of any suspected abuse. Wagner will be arraigned in court on Wednesday afternoon after being taken into Columbia County Jail on Wednesday.
Since September 2022, Soto has been the director of learning acceleration at Portland Public Schools, where he is currently an administrator.
Soto, who was contacted on Wednesday morning, refused to comment.
Students protested nearby the following day, claiming that school administrators were aware of the alleged misbehavior but did nothing about it. Stearns is one of two St. Helens teachers who were arrested and indicted this month on charges of sexual abuse. Soon after, the chair of the school board resigned, the superintendent and high school principal were placed on paid leave, and an acting superintendent was appointed. The acting superintendent promised to conduct an independent outside investigation to determine how and why the alleged misconduct occurred and to hold those responsible for it accountable.
From 2015 until 2020, Stearns is alleged to have sexually abused six students. According to the indictment, he inappropriately touched their mouths, buttocks, necks, and chests. In response to a seven-count indictment, he entered a not guilty plea.
According to St. Helens Acting Police Chief Joseph Hogue, the investigation into Stearns started in September when Doug Weaver, the creator of TikTok and a graduate of St. Helens High School, sent an email to SafeOregon, a state school safety tip line, sharing remarks made by students about current and former teachers on a video he made about misconduct at the high school.
According to Hogue, students had sent Weaver private messages and comments on his TikTok video, mentioning Stearns among other names.
According to Stearns’ attorney, Soto was also moved by Weaver’s video to get in touch with the alleged victims of Stearns.
In court documents submitted to Columbia County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Stearns’ attorney described the choir teacher’s appeal against his indictment and asked that his case be categorized as difficult, delaying a trial for a minimum of two years.
The accidents are said to have happened between 2015 and 2024. “A lot of litigation must occur to identify the specific incidents at issue because there is such a broad window of alleged criminal conduct,” Myrick said in her request.
Myrick is also contesting the way the district attorney’s office presented the case to a grand jury, arguing that although the alleged sexual abuse against Stearns and retired teacher Mark Collins differ in time, conduct, and alleged victims, the claims against Stearns were made at the same time, according to Myrick.
She also plans to bring up serious due process issues regarding the indictment procedure.
Myrick was successful in his request to have Stearn’s case transferred to a different judge, claiming that Circuit Judge Denise Keppinger would not give him a fair trial.
Beaverton resident Mark Collins, 64, a former math teacher at St. Helens High School, was taken into custody the same day Stearns was, according to the police. Beginning in 2017, according to court documents, he entered a not guilty plea to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of attempted second-degree sexual abuse involving three students.
In order to allow Collins to see his two young grandkids in front of their parents, his attorney Whitney Boise persuaded a judge on Tuesday to modify the terms of Collins’ release from custody pending trial.
If not, Stearns and Collins have been told to avoid interaction with children, avoid places where children congregate, and avoid St. Helens High School.
— Maxine Bernstein writes about criminal justice and federal courts. You may contact her at [email protected], 503-221-8212, or follow her on LinkedIn or X@maxoregonian.
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