By Cathy Ingalls
For the Gazette-Times | Posted: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 12:00 am
Dufort has served 17 years of a 48-year sentence for sex abuse
A former Children's Farm Home executive director convicted on 28 counts of sexual misconduct in 1990 goes before the state parole board today in Salem.
This is the first parole hearing for William Henry "Hank" Dufort, 67, since his incarceration, according to Kim Gonzales, hearings administrative assistant.
Dufort was director of the Children's Farm Home, a residential care center in Corvallis for troubled children, from February 1986 to December 1989. His convictions stem from the abuse during that time of six boys between the ages of 12 and 17.
Dufort was sentenced in Benton County Circuit Court to 48 years in prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
Steve Doell, president of Crime Victims United of Oregon, urged in a press release that the parole board "not let this dangerous predator out of prison."
Edie and Doug Richard, parents of one of the victims, stated in the press release, "He is such a high-risk, deceitful predator that no supervision is available to contain his criminal behavior outside of the Oregon Department of Corrections."
Dufort was arrested on Feb. 14, 1990, and initially was charged with 46 counts of sexual abuse and sodomy involving 12 boys. The arrest came after a former resident alleged that Dufort had sexually abused him 25 years earlier.
The investigation produced 27 boys who said they were abused between 1987 and 1989.
A statute of limitations forced police to limit their investigation to those two years.
Ten lawsuits connected to the investigation were settled out of court in 2004, when Federal Court Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene was called in as a mediator.
The precise dollar amount of each settlement was not made public. In general, about $3.5 million was set aside to provide long-term annuities for Dufort's victims.
Dufort was hired in 1964 as a social worker at the Farm Home. He was a clinical planning services director for 12 years before becoming the executive director.
Dufort is incarcerated at the Snake River Correctional Facility in Ontario. He was transferred there from Salem in November 1996.
The hearing is at 10:30 a.m. at the Oregon State Prison, 2575 Center St. N.E., Suite 100, Salem. The public can observe the proceedings but cannot comment. However, anyone planning to attend was required to contact Gonzales at 503-945-0902 by Tuesday afternoon to make arrangements.