GRESHAM, Ore. (GRESHAM OUTLOOK) — Travis Dick — a man charged with 24 sex crimes — is back in his home in Gresham. His bail was slashed by a Multnomah County judge.
“He’s a monster,” said Rachel Shannon, 21, as she describes an alleged rape at his hands. “I was 12 when it happened, but he’s done it his whole life — to women he’s dated and to women he doesn’t know.”
“He obviously has a pattern of it,” added Brianna Dozark, who says she was battered by him during an intimate relationship. “I can’t even go to the store down the street, because I’m too afraid of what he’s going to do.”
Dick is facing decades of jail time, but not because of either woman’s claims. Instead, police records indicate Travis Mathieu Dick had sex at different times with a 15-year-old runaway and her 13-year-old friend after providing them with marijuana and alcohol inside his family home in Southwest Gresham.
Prosecutors threw the book at the 23-year-old, eventually settling on 24 charges that include second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse. Both girls are well below the age of consent.
Their mothers told police that Travis Dick’s release would endanger the entire community, because “the defendant preys on underage girls and will continue to do so,” according to court records.
“The defendant’s parents enable him,” one mother warned the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, which ultimately recommended in a written report that Dick not be let out of jail before trial.
Judge Kelly Skye lowered the bail 85 percent, allowing Dick’s family to pay $60,000 up front. The terms of release prohibit Dick from leaving the house, except when he has been given permission to attend court meetings or medical appointments. He also has been barred from using weapons, controlled substances or having any contact with his alleged victims.
“He (is) under GPS monitoring,” spokesman Lt. Marc Shrake said.
“I am told if he were to move places that have not been previously approved Close Street would be aware of it,” he continued, referring to Close Street Supervision, a pre-trial release program.
Dick returned to his parents’ home in late January, about one month after he was arrested on Dec. 21. Two woman say it’s the scene of the crime.
“I don’t want to blame it on the parents for the physical part, but they were terrible, terrible people,” said Dozark, who lived with the family for about two years. “That house is hell.”
Both Dozark and Shannon say that Travis’ father, Gregory Dick, physically attacks his wife and only child. The mother is addicted to alcohol, both women said.
The interviews with each woman were conducted independently, and multiple phone calls left with the Dick family and their court-appointed lawyer were not returned. The Outlook does not publish the names of survivors of sex crimes unless they specifically wish to be identified.
Shannon, now a college student, was a 12-year-old seventh grader at Centennial Middle School in 2010.
Dick was an outgoing older kid with a passion for BMX bikes, she said, but was also known to become aggressive and start fights. He wasn’t necessarily popular — but everyone knew his name.
One night, Shannon says Dick began to send her suicidal messages claiming he was about to overdose on pills. As they were close friends and it was only six o’clock at night, she had her mom’s permission to walk the five blocks to his house.
“I really trusted him. That’s how he got me alone,” she recounted in an interview. “He pushed himself on me. He raped me.”
Shannon remembers that Travis’ mother watched her run out of the house in a state of obvious distress. The adult did nothing as she fled home half-clothed, she recalled.
In a separate phone interview, Tami Shannon confirmed that her daughter told her about the rape many years ago. Naturally, she wanted to go to the police, but ultimately decided to respect her child’s wishes.
Brianna Dozark paints her ex as a man wearing a mask. She too said she discovered “a monster” underneath.
She described physical attacks that occurred at all times and places — behind the wheel, in front of his parents and even while she was sleeping. She remembers locking herself inside rooms when his rage took control.
“Once he started seeing red he did not care,” she said.
Dozark said her abuser isolated her from friends and family, sometimes preventing her from leaving for work. He never hit her until after she moved in, she said.
Jovan Nieto doesn’t understand why she wasn’t notified when the neighbor in her flag lot was let out on bail. The 32-year-old mother has four children — including three girls age 13 or younger. Now she’s afraid to let her own children walk to school.
“It’s terrible to have to worry about your kids all the time when a pedophile is living behind you,” she said. “I want everybody to keep an eye out for him, and keep our kids safe.”
The Gresham Outlook is a KOIN media partner.