February 7, 2003
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Presumed guilty: the Walker story
CANBY - Reports of child abuse in the State of Oregon have been rising in the past few year but how many of them are true, and do children always tell the truth?
One attorney told KATU that the system has actually become 'child abuse crazy.'
This is a story about an innocent man who was presumed guilty.
"I crawled into a hole - I wouldn't talk to anybody. It was months before I told my closest friends," said Clyde Walker.
It was about a year ago when Clyde Walker was accused of a crime many consider to be worse than murder.
"I was just preparing myself for the worst," said Walker.
It all started in Walker's dream house, the house he bought for his wife in 1991. As it would turn out his wife died of emphysema not long after he moved in. So he began taking foster kids in as a way of coping.
"They wanted attention, they wanted someone to be concerned and someone to care for them," said Walker.
For two years Walker cared for up to five troubled teens at a time at his home - as a state contracted foster father.
Many of the teens had drug problems and criminal pasts, some had been sexually abused. Most had been in and out of MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility and other offender programs.
In March of 2001 Walker got a call from the agency that contracts with him for service that there had been a report of inappropriate touching.
"I was under the impression this would be quick, (that) it's not going to be an issue, but it wouldn't hurt if you contacted an attorney," said Walker.
In the weeks that would follow, Walker would learn that the Oregon State Police were conducting an investigation of his foster care home.
He met with the detective as soon as he could. "I knew it was tense when he said, 'I'm not going to arrest you today,'" said Walker.
Walker was forced to hire an attorney right away - it cost him thousands. Without foster kids he no longer could afford to keep his house and was forced to move in with a friend.
The friend owned a shop and an airplane hangar in Canby, which is now Walker's temporary home.
He was the accused, and he didn’t get any information on what's going on.
"I went into a huge depression and I was fearful. I didn't want anyone to know," said Walker.
As much as Walker wanted to keep his silence, he also wanted to defend himself because he knew he had done nothing wrong.
Susan Elizabeth Reese has worked for dozens of client's just like Walker and she says most people end up innocent victims of the system.
"The judges have gone along with the rest of society saying we don't care, we're going to protect the children from predators. So by the time a man comes to trial his whole life has been disrupted," said Susan Reese.
In Walker's case, the investigation took nine months. In that time the state police talked to more than a dozen of Walker's former foster kids.
The teen that accused Walker is now at MacLaren Youth Center.
That teen eventually recanted his charges against Walker saying he'd made up the story when investigators had prompted him for information.
Walker then took a lie detector test and passed.
Attorneys who represent people who are accused child abuse said the system is tilted in favor of alleged victims.
"Especially teenagers recognize they can get what they want by making a complaint," said Susan Reese.
Reese believes it's time for reform.
Among the changes would be to force prosecutors to carry a larger burden of proof before trial in an effort to keep frivolous cases from going forward.
KATU's Eric Mason asked Walker, 'how do you get your life back right now?'
Walker said "If anyone has any answer to that I'd love to know, I'm trying to find some inner peace. I've never been a big fighter, I don't want to go after anybody. I would be thrilled if someone said 'Clyde we are so sorry this happened.'
Officials at the Oregon Youth Authority said that they would not apologize to Clyde Walker and that they investigated his case just like any other case.
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Note: NO restitution for losing his home and livelihood.
And CPS wonders why they have a shortage of Foster Homes.
