Roseburg man convicted of incest

A Roseburg man who officials say plied a 16-year-old family member with alcohol last year and had sexual contact with her was convicted of incest Wednesday in Douglas County Circuit Court.

Douglas Patrick Moore, 39, pleaded no contest to the felony charge, averting a trial scheduled to begin on additional charges of first-degree rape, sodomy and unlawful sexual penetration. Those charges were dismissed in the plea agreement.

Judge George Ambrosini, following felony sentencing guidelines, sentenced the man to 30 days in jail with credit for time served. The judge also found that the circumstances of the case warranted an extended probation term of five years.

“No one, nowhere, anywhere deserves to have happen what happened to you,” the judge said, addressing the victim sitting in the courtroom.

Before the sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Dave Hopkins explained how the teen had only established a relationship with Moore in recent years, and had moved in with him last spring.

Moore, Hopkins said, soon began subjecting the teen to “grooming behaviors” such as giving her alcohol and pornography.

One night in November, the two had some drinks together. The teen started to feel the effects, and said she didn’t want any more, Hopkins said.

“Just one more,” the man told the girl. “One more won’t hurt you.”

The drinking continued. Moore began to massage the teen’s back, and the contact became increasingly more sexual, Hopkins said.

The girl reportedly felt more intoxicated then ever before, hardly able to move and apparently dumbstruck by Moore’s actions.

She finally managed to leave the room, shoving furniture up against her bedroom door to keep Moore out, Hopkins said. She later disclosed the abuse to an adult at her school.

Moore’s defense attorney, Jim Arneson, told the judge that although there were “mitigating factors” involved in the incident, he would not elaborate on the other side of the story.

Moore, he said, is the one to be held accountable.

“He is the adult.”

Arneson said his client is humiliated and prepared to accept the consequences.

Asked by the judge if he would like to say anything, Moore declined to speak. The victim also chose not to say anything.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means Moore believed the state had enough evidence to convict him.

In explaining the decision to accept the plea, Hopkins noted the difficulties the state would have faced in proving that the teen had been incapable of consent by reason of mental incapacitation or physical helplessness, as required under the statutes for first-degree rape, sodomy and unlawful sexual penetration.

Hopkins said he would have essentially had to prove the teen had blacked out or was fully incapable of moving. However since she could remember some details from the incident and was able to leave the room, he said defense and state experts hired to assist with the case had agreed that would be difficult to do.

Aside from standard probation requirements, Moore will have to register as a sex offender, undergo a sex offender evaluation and follow up with any recommended treatment. Ambrosini also ruled that the man cannot have contact with the victim or other minor females. And, Moore must abstain from intoxicants and pornography.



• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.