Portland videographer pleads not guilty to 55 sex-crime charges

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland man pleaded not guilty to dozens of sex-crime charges Friday.

Thomas Oliver, 35, entered the pleas at his arraignment Friday and received a court-appointed attorney.

Bail was set at $5.4 million.

Portland police have not released many details about the case. Sgt. Pete Simpson says it involves six women or girls and they include sex trafficking victims, domestic relationships and friends of the 35-year-old man.

A Multnomah County grand jury secretly indicted Oliver on the 55 charges last month, and it was revealed Thursday.

"The indictment comes as a result of an investigation into reports of criminal sexual behavior to six different victims. The victims include sex trafficking victims, domestic relationships, and friends of the suspect," the Portland Police Bureau said on its website. "The victims are all female and include both adults and juveniles."

Based on the investigation, detectives believe that there may be additional victims.

According to court documents, KPTV in Portland said, the 55 counts span across nearly a decade, from June 2007 to March 2016. Charges against Oliver include rape, kidnapping and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

KPTV said Oliver is well known in Portland's music community as a founding member of the videography company, Into the Woods.

Hannah Gregg, who is with Into the Woods, released a statement to KPTV on Friday saying, "I am sickened to think that Into the Woods could have created any opportunities for Tom Oliver to meet new victims. My goal was always to create a positive collective where we could elevate music we loved and make cool videos. The fact that we were inadvertently working with a sexual predator who caused so much harm to people is something that's going to take me a long time to come to terms with. My utmost admiration goes out to his victims for speaking out, and I wish them peace and healing."

Court documents state Oliver lives with his girlfriend and their 7-month-old daughter.

 

Oliver has two prior arrests for patronizing a prostitute.