There has been much talk about me and the two criminal cases in which I was charged in the past. One was in 2021 and another one was in 2002. This is my statement giving more detailed information about what was going on in my life during those times. Very little can be gleaned from a few pages of documents that outline the charges against me. Also, the charging documents in both cases are presented in a way by the prosecution to make me look as bad as they possibly can.
I have often, in the past, spoken about my addiction. It is my lived experience in addiction and criminal behavior that informs my opinions of our current absurdist addiction policies, most notably, the cult of Harm Reduction.
In 1999, I had a professional job. I was also going to school to get my masters. I was also in a band. And most notably, I was involved in a fairly substantial criminal organization, which was mostly involved in dealing cocaine and MDMA to upper-middle class partiers. I was one of very few individuals involved in the organization that wasn’t black, and I think they liked me because I had worked in banking and knew my way around banking systems, and I also knew how to create systems of companies to run illicit funds through. Much later, when I was investigating La Mota and I saw they had created over 100 Oregon LLC’s, I knew right away what they were up to and with whom they were involved.
Drug dealing wasn’t the only activity that this organization was party to. Peripherally, the organization was also involved with managing sex work, and affiliated with this was running porn sites that dealt in either the production or reposting of amateur pornography. Basically, we were all a bunch of horny 20 – 30 something’s with a little bit too much money and a penchant for the love of the next party. As most of these organizations do, we also had legitimate companies. One guy had a spice company. One guy had a real estate investment firm that took money from funds made on the West Coast and invested these funds in cheap property in the mid-West. At one point, I could count about a dozen Portland restaurants that I personally knew that had been funded with drug money. Cokeheads love their restaurants.
In 2002, I was running an amateur porn site. Some of the others in the organization would produce their own porn, but my site just advertised for people to send me submissions that they would allow me to post. Some individuals would ask to be compensated for their content since I was making money on subscriptions. This was no big deal since I had access to considerable funds. I was handling as many as 100 messages per week, receiving dozens of submissions, and posting a certain percentage of those that I found to be content that would increase subscriptions. All of this content was legal.
At the time that the government contacted me in order to entrap me with their illegal content, I was pretty heavily into my addiction. I was doing MDMA regularly, and cocaine nearly daily. I was separated from my wife at the time. I was spread thin with work, music, school, and illegal activities. Looking back on it later, I was probably approaching a nervous breakdown.
I don’t remember spending a lot of time considering the content that I was being offered by the government. I thought that this guy was probably full of shit, just like a majority of the people who usually contacted me were. He was one person out of hundreds that I had been talking to. I remember being rather fascinated that this type of porn even existed, which I guess made me naïve. I thought he would send it to me, and it would be blank, or wedding videos or something. That had happened before. Oh, and by the way? I never watched the videos. With most of the porn I received, I wouldn’t watch it for at least a few days to consider it as viable content.
Since this happened nearly exactly 22 years ago, I have a hard time remembering everything. When I read the information that was posted on my case, much of it, I realized, I had forgotten. I was angry at myself all over again for being so stupid. Of course, the discovery that the government had was only a small part of the case. There were filings that occurred for two and a half years. The government didn’t release all of the messages. I found out that the Feds actually can entrap you (just like they can charge you for a conspiracy to commit a crime), and it is referred to as “imperfect entrapment.” I pled to receipt of child pornography. I didn’t possess or produce it. Of course, when the government broke down my door to arrest me, they had warrants for all of my electronics. They did an extensive forensic investigation and didn’t find one file that I had received, looked at, had on a disc or video tape that was discovered to be underage. In other words, the only illegal porn that I had ever encountered was the content the government had sent me. Just to give you an idea, most people who are pedophiles and who are interested in consuming illegal porn are found with thousands of files of this content.
I took the plea, which was receipt of non-prepubescent child pornography (it turns out that the judge threw out the enhancement because in other messages it shows that I didn’t legally agree to receive that), and I went to Federal Prison for 8 months, and then got out and started putting my life back together. The government never approached me for the other illegal activities I was involved with, although they did issue vague threats through my attorney about going after me for other things, which they never did. To this day, I don’t know how much or anything they really knew about it. Also, because of the nature of the charge, I wasn’t required to register as a sex offender.
One of the difficulties of leaving prison is trying to land on one’s feet after being released. I started a business with the little funds I had left, but that was slow going. The easy way out was to deal drugs. My contact and good friend from Seattle came down and dropped 250 MDMA pills in my lap and told me to sell them, and he told me that he didn’t expect me to pay him back unless I wanted more. They were good, so they went fast, so I got more. A second individual I was involved with decided he was going to sell them in Indiana. Without going heavily into detail, we ended up having a falling out over money and one of his soldiers had been saying he was going to take me out, so I left the jurisdiction prior to the end of my Federal probation.
In many, many ways, I feel fortunate. With all of the uproar about this charge from nearly a quarter century ago, I know I’m lucky. My good friend who lived in Seattle? He got busted with 4700 hits of MDMA in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. He got 240 months in federal prison. He recently got out less than a year ago. I helped him throughout his time, putting money on his commissary, buying him release clothes, and helping him with finances to get him out of the halfway house. My other friend got busted with several ounces of cocaine in Indiana less the two months later, which got him a ten-year state sentence. This also influenced my decision to leave the jurisdiction.
As far as the prostitution charge 2.5 years ago goes, it is what it is. I had over 15 years of sobriety until a few months prior to that happening. I was in a bad place with the lockdowns due to being cooped up, as well as it basically killing two huge projects that my company was involved in, which caused significant financial pressure. I was having difficulty with my family who have always been rather cruel and abusive to me throughout my life. I was struggling with dealing with the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse I had experienced as a kid. I had been around cocaine in the previous 15 years a handful of times and never had the desired to do it, but when it occurred in April or May of ’21, I wasn’t strong enough refuse it. My addiction involves using drugs, which causes me to want to sexually act out. I’ve been through years of therapy and I know my cycles, but the problem with addiction is, is that it lies to you. It tells you that you can do the same things you did before, but this time will be different, but, of course, it never is.
I’m not going to excuse the things I’ve done. There is no excuse for them. They just are. I really don’t care much about what people say about me. A wiser man than me once told me that it is none of my business what others say about me, and what they saying comes from a place of ignorance. They say what they say because they don’t know me. I’ve done 12-step meetings throughout my life. I’ve helped dozens of people through their addictions. I’ve sponsored addicts, I’ve led meetings. That is what I gain strength in. The only thing that truly bothers me about what is happening around me is that it is negatively impacting Angela. She is an innocent in all of this. But Angela is the strongest person I have ever met. She is much stronger and powerful than me, and she is much stronger than the people who have set out to try to destroy both myself and her. So good luck on that, motherfuckers.
I also appreciate the many of those who have stood behind PDX Real. The encouragement from the community has been outstanding and heart-felt. All of the words and accusations that those have leveled at me are simply not true. PDX Real will continue on, whether they like it or not.
Let’s be honest about what is going on here. This is a coordinated effort to silence PDX Real because certain people, some of them powerful, want us to shut up. They want us to go away because more than any other news organization in this market, we provide the information to our readers that no one else is willing to provide. Unlike all of the other media, we will take on corruption in all of its forms and expose it. The commit to this is what makes those in power uncomfortable. Let’s also be honest, the individuals who are releasing this information are just useful idiots of the machine that wants to take us down. Many of these people talk about how they are sympathetic to those who are addicts, but they are not. They want to keep people in their addictions because that somehow serves them. They claim others are cruel, but they are the most cruel of all. They also pretend to understand addiction, but it is obvious to me that they do not.
In speaking to multiple attorneys, it is pretty clear the way the information about my past was released that it is an obvious violation of Oregon’s anti-doxing laws. The release of my 2021 charge was also done illegally. Initially, the items posted had my social security number and my phone number on it. Each time this was released on social media means I can sue these individuals for $5000. I can and I will. Also, the information from Clackamas County was disseminated with pictures of hard copies. This is against policy. After speaking to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office, there was no record of this information being pulled. These records have to be signed out, which means the individual within that office broke the law. After speaking to officials in Clackamas County, they referenced the fact that I should probably get an attorney for a lawsuit. I also plan on doing that.
I’ve never claimed I have any position of higher morality. Angela was always rather squeamish with the things I had been involved with, and rightly so. People have claimed that I am a hypocrite, but if anyone knows anything about addiction, it is this: addiction will allow you to do things that are you would find to be reprehensible and immoral outside of addiction. The only thing consistent about human behavior is that it is inconsistent. I apologize to those who are my friends and followers. In many ways, you have been dragged through this just like we have. And please, if you want to think badly of me, feel free to, but Angela, truly, is a saint. Support her beyond anything else.
Let’s be clear. I am under no current legal threat of prosecution. The solicitating charge has been dealt with and will be removed from my record in a few months. The other charge was from nearly a quarter century ago. As people have told me: its times like this that you figure out who your friends really are, and I’ve had many stand up for me. I’ve also had many walk away, and that is okay. I appreciate that more than anything. Let’s move beyond this vicious public attack and go back to taking the fight to the corruption in our system.
Thank you,
Jeff Church
I reported someone reported JoAnn Hardesty hit their car and left the scene of the accident. The other driver was a school teacher and voted to JoAnn and when I spoke with her on the phone later, she said she knew what she looked like. The police found JoAnn didn't commit the hit and run, but the call happened. We reported the call happened. It did, though I admit because of her drinking issue and how distinctive her appearance is I didn't think it was a false report from the school teacher.
Here is the 911 call that came out after we leaked it. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/13/portland-police-bureau-911-call-commissioner-jo-ann-hardesty/
Here is when we released it. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=447881693312705
Community reporting real time is always evolving. Sometimes I will get it wrong with my opinion. People remember this story as it was a false report. It was not. The issue was that it was leaked. The police leak all the time to the press. It was just this time with JoAnn Hardesty it became a racist and perceived as a political attack. She has been in my dining room when she ran for office. Public officials scandals are as old as time. JoAnn couldn't take the heat of public perception. Isn't it ironic as you are coming after Jeff and I in the same way. Except of course you have no voice, except a comment here maybe 10 people are gonna read.
You are being untruthful or you don't know the facts. Ted why is it no matter how many times I have indicated I don't want to have anything to do with you, but you keep finding me? Why am I in your head all the time? It is creepy. Go do something productive, and try and tell the truth.
Anyone who knows me knows I am patient with people. But you are toxic. I will block you if you keep at it... again. Isn't this the 4th platform? Also, this is my last reply. - Angela
What these folks don't understand is everyone has a past...be it good, bad or unremarkable. The whole intend was to shut Angela and PDXReal down. I'm glad many understood this and hung in there. For those that left...you don't need them. They are sheep! You are in excellent company with many in the vanguard media who are speaking the truth and suffering the slings and arrow from the extreme left! 😁 GOOD JOB!