Richard Troy Gillmore, known as the “Jogger rapist” who attacked nine girls and women in the late 1970s and early ‘80s in Portland and its suburbs, is set to be released from prison in mid-December and classified as a low-level sex offender.
Several of his victims said they believe Gillmore’s criminal past and behavior demands a higher-level sex offender classification that would require notifications to the community each time he changes his address.
He’ll be 63 by the time he’s released Dec. 16 to transitional housing in Multnomah County.
He was transferred from Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla to the minimum-security Columbia River Correctional Institution in Northeast Portland on Aug. 18 to help him prepare for his re-entry into the community, prison officials said. KOIN 6 News first reported his upcoming release.
Though Gillmore admitted raping nine girls and women after casing out their homes while running past, he was convicted in only one case because the others fell outside the statute of limitations. In 1987, a jury found him guilty of raping 13-year-old Tiffany Edens on Dec. 6, 1986, his last known victim.
Edens 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 to subsidized housing in Northwest Portland’s Old Town area.
“I have been slowly processing the reality of it all,” she wrote.
Multnomah County spokesperson Jessica Morkert-Shibley, though, said Friday the county hasn’t solidified plans for his post-prison supervision or confirmed where he will live.
Gillmore will be on active supervision for a minimum of three years, requiring him to report regularly to a parole officer or be subject to home visits, said Dylan Arthur, executive director of the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision.
Once paroled, he could be required to have no contact with his victims, be under GPS monitoring or get treatment.
His post-prison supervision won’t expire until December 2034, meaning he could return to prison if he violates any of his supervision conditions, Arthur said.
Gillmore has been classified as a Level 1 sex offender, considered 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, Arthur said.
But the classification means the state and county aren’t required to notify surrounding residents that he’s living near them, though they can, but aren’t required to, alert people he’s directly living with.
According to Arthur, no updated psychological evaluation has been done of Gillmore since 2016, when one was prepared for what turned out to be his last scheduled parole board review. That year, the board deemed him dangerous to others, stemming from a mental or emotional disorder or disturbance “predisposing” him to crime.
His victims are angered that Gillmore isn’t considered a Level III high-risk sex offender, which would require notification to the community wherever he lives or moves.
“He was designated as a dangerous offender at trial,” said Danielle Tudor, attacked at age 17 by Gillmore in her Southeast Portland home in 1979. “I don’t understand how that puts him at a Level 1 sex offender.”
“It’s something the community really needs to know,” she said. “I highly doubt that he’s given up jogging.”
Arthur said he “understands and empathizes” with the women. He said the classification is determined by the Static 99 risk assessment tool the state uses to gauge the sexual recidivism rate for sex crimes prisoners.
Based on that tool, Gillmore fit in the low-level classification. His age at release also is factored in, Arthur said.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be supervised by community corrections at a higher level,” he said. “Notification isn’t based on the crime you’re convicted of, but on your risk to recidivate.”
Under state law, Gilmore must register with state police within 10 days of his release, within 10 days of any change of residence or legal name change, as well as once a year within 10 days of his birth date, regardless of whether he changed his residence.
He also must register with state police within 10 days of the day he starts any job, vocational training or attends any higher educational institution. He must also register at least 21 days before any planned travel out of the country.
Colleen Kelly, who also is living out of state, said Gillmore’s upcoming release “has increased my anxiety the past few days, and I am fearful for Tiffany as well as all women and young girls there. I am thankful to be out of Oregon.”
Kelly was 13 when Gillmore broke into her Southeast Portland home and raped her on her mother’s birthday in October 1980.
Both Kelly and Tudor had to fight to be recognized as victims in the case. They and Edens have attended at least one of Gillmore’s past parole board hearings and testified at his sentencing.
The case drew widespread scrutiny of the parole board in 2007 when it voted to release Gillmore after failing to notify Edens. She protested and filed a lawsuit that forced the board to hold a new hearing.
Her battle to be heard prompted a work group to consider reforms to make the parole review process more transparent, accessible and less traumatizing for victims.
In 2016, the board deferred Gillmore’s parole date until January 2023 after he declined to participate in a parole hearing that year. It marked the first time the board had extended possible parole for Gilmore beyond the typical two years.
The board made its decision at that time after reviewing a psychological evaluation that found he had “a mental or emotional disturbance, deficiency, condition or disorder predisposing him to the commission of any crime to a degree rendering the inmate a danger to the health or safety of others.”
Gillmore’s maximum sentence is scheduled to end on Dec. 22, including time off for good behavior.
If the state released him on that day, he wouldn’t be subject to supervision, Arthur said. So, he’s being released about a week earlier to remain on post-prison supervision through December 2034.
