Terry Bean
In the past, Bean, a gay-rights pioneer and co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, has been a strong Democratic booster and raised more money for Obama's presidential campaigns than any other Oregonian.
That fundraising prowess earned Bean visits to the White House, a trip on Air Force One and a prominent place at the president's side when Obama visits the Pacific Northwest.
But any participation by Bean in a presidential visit now could be embarrassing for Obama. Bean is currently under indictment, facing felony sex abuse charges in Lane County.
Last June, WW reported on Bean's tempestuous relationship with a former lover named Kiah Lawson. A lengthy criminal investigation followed the story, and in September Bean was arrested in Multnomah County and charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and sexual abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor. He faces an August trial date on those charges in Lane County, where his alleged abuse of a 15-year-old boy took place in September 2013. Lawson was also charged for his role in the alleged incident.
Terry Bean and Kiah Lawson - Photo courtesy Kiah Lawson
Bean’s attorney has told the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office that Bean is the victim of an extortion plot carried out against him by a former boyfriend, 24-year-old Kiah Lawson, a onetime cellphone salesman with a drug problem and a criminal record.
Bean says that last year he fell in love with Lawson. Bean paid him a $400-a-week allowance, put Lawson up in one of his homes and took him on international trips. Last fall, Bean brought Lawson to the White House and also introduced him to Obama.
In January, Lawson says, he discovered that Bean had a hidden camera in the smoke detector above Bean’s bed in his West Hills home. Lawson used this information to seek money from Bean, alleging that the camera captured videos “of at least a half dozen individuals in a state of nudity engaged in intimate acts with you.” Lawson claims he is in more than one video.
Records reviewed by WW show Bean recently attempted to settle the matter for $40,000 in exchange for Lawson turning over the images and refraining from disclosing Bean’s “alleged illicit sexual activities.”
That deal appears to be off, and last week Bean’s attorney went to the DA, alleging Lawson was guilty of theft and extortion, in addition to being involved in a wider range of criminal activities. The case is under investigation by Portland police.
Bean’s fundraising prowess reached its peak in 2012, when he helped Obama win a second term. According to the watchdog group Public Citizen, Bean raised $500,000 for Obama’s re-election. Obama thanked him publicly at an event in Portland that year. When Obama left Portland after a fundraiser, Bean flew to Seattle with him on Air Force One.
FLYING HIGH: Terry Bean and President Barack Obama on Air Force One in 2012.
Lawson claims that, as part of their relationship, Bean asked him to bring younger men to the West Hills house. He also says their relationship allowed them to have sex with other men, so long as the other approved.
On Jan. 3, Lawson says, he became suspicious that Bean had entertained a man whom they had met on a different dating site, Adam4Adam. He knew Bean had an extensive video surveillance system throughout the house; there were security cameras visible in places such as the kitchen, the foyer and hallways.
Lawson says he accessed the security system and thumbed through video images to see if he could spot the other man. There, he says, he discovered videos taken in Bean’s bedroom. They included Lawson and Bean having sex, as well as video of at least six other men engaged in sex acts at various times.
He made screenshots and later confronted Bean about the recordings, some of which appeared to date back months.
It’s a misdemeanor in Oregon to knowingly video-record another person who is naked without his or her consent if the person being recorded has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Read more here and here.
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