On Friday, December 15, 2017, Washington County Circuit Court Judge D. Charles Bailey sentenced 34 year-old Alexander Rico Ortiz to 400 months in prison for raping two different women earlier in the year. Ortiz, a registered sex offender who had recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for a previous Attempted Rape conviction, pled guilty to two counts of Rape in the First Degree and one count of Sodomy in the First Degree.

These charges involved the sexual assaults of two women in February, 2017. On February 1st the defendant arranged a date with the first victim and brought her to his home in Hillsboro. When she refused his advances Ortiz told her that if she did not have sex him he would kill her. Ortiz then forcibly raped the victim and threatened that he would also kill her if she called the police. Frightened, she did not immediately report the attack. The second incident occurred on February 14th and followed a similar pattern. Again Ortiz arranged a date with the victim and brought her to his home. Once there he violently raped and sodomized her. He also threatened to kill her family if she called police. However, the second victim called police as soon as possible, and an exhaustive search for the defendant was conducted. The defendant was ultimately found at a relative’s house in Hillsboro and was arrested on March 3rd. After seeing media coverage of Ortiz’ arrest the first victim contacted law enforcement and reported the February 1st assault.

These cases were investigated by Detective Sean Magnuson of the Hillsboro Police Department, and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Allison Brown. Both victims were present in the courtroom for sentencing. They provided victim impact statements expressing the deep harm and long lasting effects that sexual violence has on victims, including flashbacks, feelings of shame and embarrassment, and persistent fear. However, as one of the women put it, they will go on with the resolve that “living with scars is better than not living at all” and still believing that “there is good out there despite people like you who try to prove otherwise.” Before beginning his prison sentence Ortiz has been transferred to the Multnomah County jail to face additional pending charges.