PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Court documents reveal disturbing new details of the sexual abuse several children are believed to have been victims of at VillaSport Athletic Club and Spa in Beaverton over the summer.
Forty-seven-old Damien Jay Karp, a convicted rapist, is accused of touching a 7-year-old boy inappropriately while in the VillaSport hot tub with the boy’s father and 9-year-old sister on July 16. According to court documents, Karp touched the boy’s bottom and rubbed his body against the child’s arms and legs several times before the father confronted him and told employees.
After this incident was reported, other children, including an 8-year-old, came forward. The 8-year-old told authorities Karp explicitly asked the child to “join him” in the hot tub where he allegedly touched them.
The Beaverton Police Department said VillaSport employees contacted them that day and reported Karp, a gym member, had been caught interacting inappropriately with a child in the facility’s outdoor hot tub.
When officers began investigating, they learned Karp was a registered sex offender and was on probation for related crimes. He was not allowed to have any contact with children while on probation.
With the help of Villasport employees, Beaverton detectives began an in-depth investigation into Karp’s behavior. They determined Karp had inappropriately touched several children at the Beaverton VillaSport in June and July of 2022.
Surveillance video provided by the club reportedly captured Karp “making a concentrated effort to sit” near several different minors.
Beaverton police arrested Karp after he was questioned and allegedly told officers he had nothing to say.
Court documents show that while searching through Karp’s belongings, police discovered a small video camera protected by a waterproof case. A search warrant was executed on the camera, which officials said revealed footage of young girls underwater. Officials said Karp would film extremely close to the girls’ buttocks and genitals that he would occasionally touch their bodies.
According to court documents, additional videos were found that showed Karp inside his apartment masturbating to images of girls in bathing suits.
Beaverton Detective Chad Opitz said that based on the nature of Karp’s crimes, he likely has more victims.
Anyone who may have had an inappropriate interaction with Karp, or who knows anything about his behavior, should contact Detective Opitz at (503) 526-2674 or copitz@beavertonoregon.gov.
In 2005, Karp was convicted of raping his then-girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter. He served 10 years in prison on multiple counts of first-degree rape, multiple counts of first-degree sex abuse, first-degree sodomy and unlawful sexual penetration.
He is currently being held at the Washington County Jail on 10 felonies of first-degree sex abuse, two misdemeanor charges for invasion of privacy and a parole violation.