A Creswell man entered into a specifically negotiated plea deal with Lane County District Attorney Patricia Perlow after being charged with decades of sex abuse to underage girls and young children.
Dustin Lee Stephens, 33, of Creswell pled guilty in March to 13 counts of sexual assault and child porn-related charges.
According to court records, charges include three counts of First Degree Sex Abuse; seven counts of Using Child in Display of Sexually Explicit Conduct; two counts of Second Degree Sex Abuse; and one count of First Degree rape.
According to the Information outlined in this case:
Between January and March 2004, Stephens subjected a 14-year-old girl to sexual contact;
Between January 2012 and May 2017, Stephens engaged in sexual intercourse with a female child under the age of 12;
On Jan. 10, 2013, Stephens employed, authorized, permitted, compelled or induced a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for a person to observe, photograph or videotape;
On Jan. 10, Oct. 6, Dec. 2, 2013 and on June 15, 2014, Stephens employed, authorized, permitted, compelled or induced children to engage in sexually explicit conduct to observe, photograph or videotape;
Between January and December 2015, Stephens subjected a female to sexual intercourse without consent;
Between January 2016 and March 2018, Stephens subjected two other 14-year-old girls to sexual contact;
Between January 2016 and March 2018, Stephens employed, authorized, permitted, compelled or induced a three other female children to engage in sexually explicit conduct to observe, photograph or videotape; and
Between January 2017 and March 2018, Stephens subjected a female to sexual penetration with an object without consent.
These charges represent one count per known and identified victim in this case, plus four counts representing the many digital images of child pornography created by Stephens, according to court records. Stephens waived the grand jury process and pled guilty to the 13 charges.
Negotiation terms outline that Stephens will serve a 55-year sentence to the Department of Corrections.
According to plea petition, there are substantially more charges available to be charged in this case.
If the entire case, as described in the discovery materials, be presented to a grand jury, Stephens would be facing 50 to 100 sexual assault and child pornography-related charges – convictions of which would result in sentence far beyond the length of Stephen’s life, according to court documents.
In consideration for the State not submitting the entirety of the this case to a grand jury and in consideration for these sentencing agreements which allows the defendant to avoid a sentence that would effectively be a true life sentence, Stephens agreed to speak with law enforcement investigators to disclose all of his sex abuse victims that at not listed in the discovery materials. He will also identify the victims captured in the abuse photos he created, according to court records.
Stephens would still be subject to prosecution and additional prison time should any victim disclose sexual abuse by Stephens that was not named during negotiations.
He will not receive any good time credits and will not be eligible for an early release on any of these counts, but will receive credit for time-served.
