NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Friday, January 19, 2018
Women overcome community
pressure to send man to prison
to feel like they couldn’t speak
out against men.
The four-day trial opened
a rare window into this mael-
strom of emotions as Noor’s
crimes and the vigorous
campaign to cover them up
were aired in open court.
The trial also came at a
time of national
reckoning
over
sexual harassment
and abuse, begin-
ning with the explo-
sive
allegations
against Hollywood
producer Harvey
Weinstein
and
followed by accu-
sations of sexual
misconduct
by
dozens of high-pro-
file men in politics, media and
entertainment.
The judge didn’t cite the
current climate but she did
single out a culture of silence
and said she believed the
girls’ families were among
those pushing hard for them to
retract their statements.
They valued the “fraudu-
lent appearance of propriety”
over the importance of
protecting women or children,
she said. The judge explained
that it was her job to see past
that to uphold her court’s
commitment to justice.
A sense of denial
Noor was a respected
member of Portland’s Soma-
li-American community —
known as a loving father and
husband and a devout Muslim
who prayed five times a day.
He supported his large family
by working full-time as a Lyft
driver.
He was a success story — a
man who immigrated from
Somalia about 20 years ago
and built a life for himself
from scratch.
The allegations against
Noor surfaced months or
years ago — when each of the
four girls confided in trusted
adults.
They described a similar
set of circumstances leading
up to the abuse: Noor would
have them massage his legs,
work their way up to his
thighs and ultimately touch
his genitals when they were as
young as 12 or 13, they said.
Each also said they were
By AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian/OregonLive
The intense pressure to
keep quiet began almost
immediately after four girls
reported that they’d been
molested by a well-known
member of their community:
You’re lying. Take it
back. Change your
stories.
Two of the four
girls did.
But after a trial
last month, a Port-
land judge found
Hassan Mohamed-
haji Noor — a
46-year-old married
father of six and Noor
member of the local
Somali immigrant community
— guilty of sexual abuse,
including for targeting the two
girls who recanted.
In a strongly worded state-
ment, Multnomah County
Circuit Judge Leslie Roberts
made clear that the urge to
hide abuse by squelching the
voices of victims happens in
all kinds of settings, not just
within a Portland immigrant
community that numbers
about 8,000.
“It is familiar in the history
and reality of many communi-
ties near to home and far from
it,” Roberts said.
Child sex abuse is a
relatively common crime. An
estimated one in four girls
and one in six boys will be
sexually abused by the time
they turn 18, according to
the National Sexual Violence
Resource Center.
But child abuse experts say
most cases go unreported for
some of the very reasons two
of the young women in this
case may have felt compelled
to back down. Victims fear
they won’t be believed and
often are embarrassed to talk
about what happened.
They’re also concerned
that the person who abused
them will carry out threats to
hurt them or they worry that
their family or community will
ostracize them. Some even feel
guilt over sending someone
they once liked to prison. One
victim also said that in her
Somali-American community,
girls and women were made
urged to say nothing. They
told investigators that family
members and community
members
claimed
that
speaking about the abuse
would bring shame to them
and their families. That no
men would want to marry
them after learning they’d
been molested. That it was
up to Allah to decide Noor’s
punishment.
The girls didn’t talk to
police until last year for
various reasons.
When Noor was arrested in
March, news quickly spread
through his community.
The accusations were so
disturbing that some people
simply couldn’t believe them,
said Musse Olol, president of
the Somali American Council
of Oregon.
“It’s a sense of denial —
just like with any shameful act,
any criminal act, anything bad
that the community wished
did not happen but sometimes
happens,” Olol said.
Uphill battle
Although the prosecu-
tion’s case against Noor
seemed straightforward in
the beginning, it grew more
complicated when Noor’s two
youngest victims — now ages
16 and 18 — recanted.
Compounding
matters,
although the two other victims
stood by their stories, Noor
was indicted for sexually
abusing only one of them.
That’s because the statute of
limitations had passed for
the oldest one, now 23. She
was allowed to testify, but
Noor couldn’t be convicted of
abusing her.
On the opening day of trial,
a standing-room-only crowd
of members of the Somali
community filled the court-
room gallery. The 16-year-old
took the stand first.
Deputy District Attorney
Amber Kinney chose her
words carefully. She knew the
girl had changed her story. She
needed to get the teen’s orig-
inal statements on the record.
Kinney played a 911
recording of the girl — the call
that had set the case in motion
nine months earlier.
“I was molested,” the girl
can be heard saying, before
stating that it was Noor and
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Mostly cloudy
Mostly cloudy
48° 37°
47° 35°
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Cloudy, a shower
in the p.m.
Clouds and
sunshine
48° 33°
A few showers in
the afternoon
44° 34°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 38°
50° 34°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
50°
38°
42°
28°
63° (2005) -20° (1922)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.25"
1.04"
0.93"
1.04"
1.32"
0.93"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
47°
39°
42°
29°
65° (1961) -11° (1930)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.08"
0.72"
0.75"
0.72"
1.30"
0.75"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
First
Full
Jan 24
Jan 31
Last
Feb 7
51° 33°
47° 34°
Seattle
48/41
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
50° 37°
7:30 a.m.
4:43 p.m.
8:59 a.m.
7:32 p.m.
New
Feb 15
Today
TUESDAY
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
48° 36°
Spokane
Wenatchee
38/30
39/30
Tacoma
Moses
47/39
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 45/33
39/32
47/41
46/38
49/32
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
46/40
48/37 Lewiston
50/38
Astoria
45/33
49/41
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
47/40
Pendleton 39/25
The Dalles 51/38
48/37
48/36
La Grande
Salem
43/31
48/39
Albany
Corvallis 47/39
48/37
John Day
41/28
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
47/25
46/36
41/28
Caldwell
Burns
46/26
39/18
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
DEPOE BAY (AP) — Oregon State Police say a man
has been swept out to sea at Depoe Bay.
Witnesses told police that the man went over a sea wall
Thursday morning to look at the big waves from a storm.
He was then swept off the rocks.
The Coast Guard and local rescue crews searched for the
47-year-old man Thursday. The Coast Guard said Thursday
night that the search had been suspended “due to negative
results.”
North Lincoln Fire & Rescue reported damage to a
restaurant, two motels and other businesses on the beach-
front in Lincoln City and said one person had been hospi-
talized after being hit by a wave. Fire officials also posted
photos of damage to the establishments on Facebook.
The waves also forced the closure of beaches and access
points along the coast.
Large “sneaker” waves have killed more than two dozen
people along the Oregon coast since 1990.
Yakima approves emergency
proclamation ahead of landslide
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A city in central Washington
state issued an emergency proclamation in response to a
mass of rock and soil crawling down a ridge that officials
say could turn into a landslide.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the Yakima City
Council on Tuesday approved a resolution for city officials
to request state or federal assistance should the city require
help in responding to the effects of about 4 million cubic
yards of material inching down Rattlesnake Ridge.
Emergency management officials say the proclamation
would aid agencies in coordinating and tracking funds for
emergency response efforts.
Officials say the mass is moving less than 2 feet each
week, but it could slide from the ridge at any time.
Corrections
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and
sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in
the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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Today
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37/20
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REGIONAL FORECAST
Eastern Washington: Cloudy today; a snow
shower near the Idaho border and in the
mountains.
Cascades: A bit of snow today, but a rain or
snow shower in central parts.
Northern California: A shower or two
today; snow, accumulating 1-2 inches in the
interior mountains.
Today
Saturday
SW 6-12
SW 6-12
WSW 8-16
WSW 7-14
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
0
1
1
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Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
WORLD CITIES
(in mph)
Eastern and Central Oregon: A few rain
and snow showers today. Snow level around
3,000 feet; 1-3 inches of snow expected.
Western Washington: Considerable cloudi-
ness today with a couple of showers. Rain
tonight.
Man swept out to sea at Depoe Bay
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sat.
WINDS
Medford
43/32
Coastal Oregon: Cloudy today with show-
ers; chilly in the south. Rain tonight.
ROSEBURG (AP) — A lack of snow is hurting business
at a southern Oregon resort, forcing cutbacks and layoffs.
The Diamond Lake Resort is used to seeing a throng of
visitors at this time of year looking to enjoy snow sports or
a just a casual snowball fight, the News-Review reported.
This year is different, said John Jonesburg, the resort’s
marketing and events coordinator. He said he has never
seen business so slow in his 28 years of working at the
resort.
Jonesburg estimates that the amount of visitors, revenue
and business is down by 60 percent this year. Outside the
difference is visible with pansies are already blooming in
places where snow should be.
The lack of snow has led the resort to shut down some of
its operations and lay off more than half of its winter staff.
They tried to keep its snow tubing hill open, but gave up
once costs became too much, Jonesburg said.
Cat skiing at Mount Bailey remains closed and snow-
mobiling from the snow-less lake level is not possible. Ice
fishing may not be possible this season since Diamond Lake
was briefly frozen during the holiday season, but has since
thawed.
“We need a lot of snow to get things open again,”
Jonesburg said.
Despite the current snow shortfall, the resort is still
inviting guests to come enjoy hiking trails and fishing.
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
SATURDAY
Lack of snow hurting S. Oregon resort
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— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
TODAY
describing the abuse.
The prosecutor stopped
the recording. “Who was that
calling 911?” Kinney asked.
“Sounds like my voice,
but I was lying,” the girl
responded.
The prosecutor noted that
the girl also repeatedly told her
story to others: a patrol officer,
a child abuse investigator
with the Oregon Department
of Human Services, a police
detective and ultimately a
grand jury.
But the girl offered a
startling explanation: She had
been under the influence of
“black magic.”
“I wasn’t in my right state
of mind,” she said on the
witness stand. “It is as if I
wasn’t speaking myself.”
The two other young
women testified that they had
refused to change their stories
even though their families
disowned them.
The most emotional
account came from the
20-year-old, who said Noor
repeatedly made her touch his
genitals when she was 11. She
told her parents after encoun-
tering him trying to molest
one of her siblings, she said.
She said her parents
distanced the family from
Noor, but didn’t call police.
She said she remembers her
father telling her that the abuse
could never be reported.
“He basically started
crying,” she said. “And he was
like, ‘I know what (Noor) did
to you was wrong, but, you
know, what can I do? What
can I do? Your reputation
is going to be ruined if I say
something, if I fight him.’”
Noor is scheduled to be
sentenced in February.
He faces a minimum prison
term of 6 ¼ years if he serves
the sentences at the same
time. But he also could get a
maximum of more than 68
years — 6 ¼ years for each of
the 11 charges of first-degree
sexual abuse against him.
As Roberts announced
her verdict, Noor revealed no
visible emotion. As deputies
handcuffed him and led him
out of the courtroom, he
smiled slightly and shrugged
at the crowd of spectators who
gathered around him.
BRIEFLY
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Milder air will build from the Plains to the Midwest and East today.
Showers are forecast for the Pacific coast with snow in store for the Intermountain West.
Rain will dampen part of the Texas coast.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 83° in Miramar MCAS, Calif.
Low -9° in Glens Falls, N.Y.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
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Portland, ME
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Reno
Sacramento
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San Diego
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Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
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