By Jessica Morton
(Confirmed by US~Observer Staff)

Grants Pass, OR. – For all of you who don’t know me already, my name is Jessica Morton. I have lived in Grants Pass, Oregon, most of my life; I went to Redwood Elementary, South Middle School, and then Grants Pass High School.

While at Grants Pass High, I was a 3-sport athlete. I participated in volleyball, basketball, and softball. Beyond sports, I was part of Leadership and the Spanish Club, worked with multi-handicapped/special education classrooms, and was active in community service, helping with youth programs and wrapping presents for the less fortunate. During my Junior year, our softball team made it to the State Playoffs, which opened many doors for me. I went on to play summer ball and was seen by Bob Coolen, the head coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. On the spot, he offered me a full-ride scholarship.

In 2003, I moved to Hawaii to fulfill my dream of playing Division I College Softball at the University of Hawaii. I traveled all over the United States with my softball team, winning the WAC in 2004 and 2005, playing in Regionals and Super Regionals — almost making it to the Division 1 Collegiate World Series.

As soon as I went to Hawaii, I knew what I wanted to study; I have always had a passion for helping children and working with children with special needs. I graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2008 with a BA in Psychology and minors in Sociology and Business.

After graduating, I immediately started working at Hawaii Behavioral Health as a paraprofessional in my field. As such, I worked 1:1 with a boy who had autism, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience; however, I soon had to make a tough decision when I found out that I was expecting my own little one. My fiancé and I decided that it was best to move back to Oregon.

In June of 2011, we moved back to good ol’ Grants Pass. Immediately upon arrival, we had an interview scheduled at Southern Oregon Adolescent Treatment Center (SOASTC), now known as Kairos. My fiancé and I were both hired and started June 16th, 2011. I worked there until July 23, 2014.

While working there, I started as an on-call employee. In November 2011, I was encouraged by many staff members and the Program Manager to apply for an open supervisor position. I ended up getting the position. While being a supervisor, I became a Tier II Trainer and helped train staff members in Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS).

On May 6th, 2014, I was voted “Employee of the Month” by my co-workers for the 4th time since being hired.

On Friday, May 9th, 2014, I was asked by the Program Manager to attend a fundraiser for Kairos’ “Celebration of Hope”.

On Saturday, May 10th, 2014, the Admin-on-call contacted me and informed me that I was being placed on administrative leave, which I later learned was due to an allegation made by one of our troubled residents.

The False Accuser

In my opinion, the False Accuser, upon coming to Kairos, was an aggressive, angry boy. He was easily upset. His way of showing that he was tough was punching walls, doors, fences, and other objects. He did this often when he felt insecure or wasn’t getting attention.

As I got to know him, it became apparent that he was a very insecure boy with attachment issues. He always talked about his mother and how he wished she would be there for him. He really struggled with his mother issues and projected his feelings and emotions about his mom on both female staff and residents. He soon started acting out on his sexual urges after being in Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) for a few years. Soon, he began pushing boundaries with female residents, and parameters had to be put in place in his Behavioral Support Plan (BSP), which is documented.

He struggled, on a day-to-day basis, with boundaries set for both staff and residents. He would stand too close, try to turn a side hug into a full hug, hug for too long, poke, touch your hair, do long, awkward handshakes, try to hold hands, and keep getting into your personal space. Every day he was talked to about his boundaries. Plan B conversations (addressing/documenting his behaviors) were happening with many staff members.

He often glorified his addiction to meth and his criminal history surrounding that time in his life. He talked about stealing from his family and friends, hurting family and friends, and not having any remorse for those actions. He told his stories several times a day with staff and peers. While at the facility, he helped a peer sneak in meth, and they were able to use meth together. He was not removed from Kairos for doing this. According to other staff and the clinical team, he is a pathological liar and sociopath, and lied on a daily basis about random things. Example: He went to the therapist and asked what would happen if he had a phone; the therapist told him it would just need to be locked and kept offline. The therapist came to me and said to keep an eye out because she thinks he has a phone. When I confronted him, he claimed, “I just wanted to see what you guys would do.” He lied about sexual encounters that he claimed to have had with other female residents. He lied about things he did on his day visits.

He engaged in several attention-seeking behaviors to get my attention. Example: Kairos was hosting a Prom for residents; I had arranged for someone to come in and do the girls’ nails. I was with the girls having girl time when he became very upset and wanted to have a check-in. I informed him that other staff members could help him. He refused to check in with anyone else. He then decided to AWOP (Away without permission); he hopped the fence, knowing that, as the supervisor, I would have to be the one to assess the situation. He also self-harmed by cutting himself, punching walls, and throwing objects, again knowing I would be the one assessing the situation. After his repeated inappropriate advances toward me and other female staff and peers, he became more aggressive, lying and complaining about me to staff. He asked peers about me and how I looked under my clothes.

Shortly after this, he made a false claim about me to staff, which they were required to share with law enforcement. I was subsequently fired from Kairos, with NO support from my employer to denounce the false claims against me. Soon after, I began being harassed by the Grants Pass Police Department. They obtained a warrant, issued by Judge Lindy Baker, and forced me to strip naked so they could photograph my unclothed body. There has been no, nor will there be any, admission on my part, only adamant denial. There were no witnesses to the alleged sexual contact he claimed. There was no DNA. There was no evidence whatsoever other than an allegation from an alleged diagnosed schizophrenic/bipolar seventeen-year-old, who had reportedly abused meth since the age of 13, and the hearsay he offered.

Almost one year passed before I was arrested on April 30, 2015. I am now facing six criminal counts: 5 misdemeanors and 1 felony. I posted bail for $2,000.00, which I had to borrow since I am not employed. The local media showed my mug shot on television, claiming The False Accuser was a “victim,” basically branding me a sexual predator without any of the facts of my case, other than what the police and the district attorney delivered to them. Not one person from the local media attempted to get my side of the story before branding me a criminal sexual predator for all of my friends, family, peers, and others to see on live television, newspapers, and radio.

Over the last year, I have not only suffered the loss of my job and career, my personal and family life has taken a huge toll from these wrongful allegations, causing my family and I a tremendous amount of stress and suffering.

Recently, Kairos has fired several other employees, two of whom have been charged with crimes, and these incidents have been highly publicized within our community. Interestingly, I was indicted just a couple of weeks after those cases were so prominently displayed to the public, even though the investigation into my false charges began almost a year ago. This has left me wondering whether the ‘warmed’ public sentiment motivated the prosecutor to pursue my case, making it politically motivated at a time when police and prosecutors are trying to pass a levy and secure more funding from taxpayers. Fortunately for me in my case, the majority of people are seeing these charges for what they really are: baseless allegations made by a desperate young man to get attention, and pursued by a new prosecutor who is looking to make a name for himself by prosecuting Kairos employees. While I cannot speak to the other Kairos employees’ innocence or guilt, I can, without a doubt, declare my own innocence. In fact, I am shouting it for the world to hear!

I’m deeply saddened by the Grants Pass Police Department’s lack of investigative skills, and I am extremely hurt by Kairos’s explicit lack of professionalism and their complete disregard for and lack of support for their employees.

Supportin’ Morton

This next chapter in my life will assuredly be one of the costliest, financially. Attorneys, court fees, expert witnesses, and who knows what else, are all looming in the short term. Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, today you are guilty until you can pay to prove your innocence, and my innocence is going to cost my family and me much more than we have. So, I am humbly asking for your help. Please donate $1, or any amount you wish, to help alleviate some of the costs. Anything given is greatly appreciated. With your help, I plan on being vindicated and declared, for all to know, the true victim of these false charges.

Please, if you see a car around town with the Supportin’ Morton tag, or someone wearing a Supportin’ Morton T-shirt, please give them your support.

Thank you!