A Gresham man is facing accusation that he tried to lure a minor after police say he followed a 15-year-old girl and asked her to perform sex acts for money.
Police on Friday, May 17, arrested Jerry Dean Guess, 69, of Gresham on one count of luring a minor. He was released pending trial that same day.
The victim told police Guess has offered her money for sex three times since April, and twice followed her while she was walking but didn't talk to her, said Detective John Rasmussen, Gresham Police spokesman.
Following the fifth incident, on May 10, she ran home and reported it to her mother.
The girl told her mother and police that she was walking south on Southeast 202nd Avenue near Southeast Stark Street when the man slowly drove by in his 1990s Ford Thunderbird.
He allegedly pulled alongside the girl and asked her to perform sex acts on him in exchange for money. She ran home and told her mother, who hurried outside to confront the man as he sped away.
The mother reported the incident to police, describing the man as a heavyset, white male in his 60s, with grey hair. They also provided the officer with the license plate number for the suspects white 1992 Ford Thunderbird.
A Gresham detective assigned to the case met with the girl and discovered this was the third time the same man driving the same vehicle had approached her and asked for sex in exchange for money.
Beginning in April, the suspect reportedly began following the girl and contacted her using the same routine: He would slowly drive by, call her by the wrong name and say he recognized her from a strip club.
As she tried to ignore him, he would continue to follow her and ask her to perform sex acts with him in exchange for money. The suspect would finally leave when the young girl yelled at him. All three incidents happened near Southeast Stark Street between 202nd and 199th avenues.
On two other occasions, the suspect also followed the girl but did not contact her.
The detective, with help from the victim and her mother, identified Guess as the suspect and arrested him. Guess has a prior Gresham arrest for prostitution in 2008.
Anyone with additional information about this case is asked to call the Gresham Police tip line at 503-618-2719 or 1-888-989-3505.