Gage Sentenced to 45 Years
Eric Dolson, Nugget Newspaper - Sisters, Oregon.
Feb. 2, 2001
Steven Gage will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.
Gage, 43, the former proprietor of Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls near Sisters, was sentenced to 45 years behind bars on 27 counts of theft, criminal mistreatment and sex abuse of teenage girls under his care.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Stephen Tiktin on January 31, 2001. It followed the guidelines of a plea agreement between Gage and the Deschutes County District Attorney reached January 4.
Prior to sentencing, victim after victim of Gage's abuse, including girls who ranged in age from 14 to 18 at the time the sex abuse occurred, gave tearful testimony that he should receive the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement.
"He took the trust we gave him and twisted it for his own sexual desire... I was just a child, and so was every other girl he molested," said one young woman who accounted for nearly half of the original 146 counts of sex abuse that occurred.
While she spoke, Gage sat at the defense table, shrunken, having lost dozens of pounds while sitting in jail seven months waiting for his trial. His hair was thin and graying, his face hollow and white. His head shook slightly from side, either from a slight tremor or perhaps in denial of the atrocities described.
His head seemed to barely reach above the collar of an oversize denim jacket with the words "Deschutes County Jail" stenciled on the back. It made him seem even smaller.
"Look at him! Do you think that this man would ever be a part of any teenage girl's fantasies? It was disgusting!" said one of the victims of coerced sexual activity with Gage.
"I don't know what shell of a human being does this to 13- or 15- or 17-year-old girls and thinks he can get away with it," said another. "He preyed on the souls of children for his own sense of confidence."
Parents told the judge of the nearly unbearable guilt they felt when they had discovered what Gage had done to their daughters.
"We were seeking desperately a safe harbor. Imagine the shock and horror and outrage when we learned that we had delivered her into the hands of an uncontrolled, manipulative, evil, sexual predator," said one father.
The girls testified that their fear extended even to bucolic Sisters High School where, under a previous administration, Gage had conned his way in as a truant officer, offered the services of his supposedly trained drug-sniffing dogs. He had keys to the building, his partner Karen Lee was on the school board.
"We could not go to the school (authorities). We would look out the door of English class, expecting to see his face," cried one girl.
A Sisters teacher in the courtroom flinched as these words were spoken.
The girls told of how he gave favors of jewelry and privileges to his "special girls," the ones who did not or could not resist his sexual advances.
In determining the sentence, Judge Tiktin first spoke to assuage the guilt of parents and the girls.
As a man who has seen much of the worst, as a man who must be "always suspicious and even cynical," Judge Tiktin told them that "I myself could have been deceived by Mr. Gage ... (until yesterday), I think I failed to grasp the character and scope of his crimes.
" ... what happened is not your fault," the judge told parents and girls. He praised the courage of those girls who came forward.
Judge Tiktin said that he believed Royal Haven "was a scam from day one." He spoke of Gage's "tremendous conceit and contempt of others, to take these precious children as objects for your sexual gratification ... the cruelty, the isolation, the exploitation of their disaffection from their family."
At which time, Tiktin read the sentence, which added up to 45 years behind the walls of prison. The judge established that Gage will always be under supervision as a "sexually dangerous offender."
If he lives that long, Gage could get out after 36 years with time off for good behavior, but even then he will be 79 years old when he next breathes air as a free man.
Gage Sentenced to 45 Years, Eric Dolson, Nugget Newspaper - Sisters, Oregon, Feb. 2, 2001
http://www.nuggetnews.com/archives/2001 ... ont8.shtml ------------------------
Just a reminder that abuse can happen whether there are 25 or 500 kids.
All you need is a dark, evil heart ... and maybe some business card to pass out to the Ed Cons, speaking of which, interested parties may want to check the Struggling Teens archives and see if they can find an article about Steve Gage and the view from his hot-tub which IIRC, was written by Lon Woodbury .. obviously before the allegations of abuse surfaced and Gage was convicted.
Wonder what Karen Lee is doing these days? Anybody know?
:smokin:
