PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A former elementary school principal in the Gresham-Barlow district was indicted and arrested on child sex abuse charges involving 4 former students.
Jeffrey Hays faces 7 felonies, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said. Between 2005 and 2009, Hays was the principal at Deep Creek Elementary School. When he left, he became the Executive Director at the City View Charter School in Hillsboro.
He’s being held on $500,000 bail in the Clackamas County Jail. Six of the charges are 1st-degree sex abuse, with the other charge being unlawful sexual penetration.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at 503.723.4949. The case number is 16-026450.
Former student sued, won $3 million
In January 2020, a jury awarded a 21-year-old woman $3 million after she claimed she was sexually abused by her elementary school principal, Jeff Hays. She said Hays started molesting her when she was in second grade.
She attended Deep Creek Elementary from 2005 until 2008 and said, in those three years, Hays molested her dozens of times.
“This experience completely changed the trajectory of the path that my life was on,” the woman identified as JJ told KOIN 6 News at that time.
Hays was never deposed in the case. He pleaded the 5th Amendment. JJ’s attorney Greg Kafoury said Hays was never in the courtroom.
“The jurors didn’t have much doubt that this guy had done what we said he’d done,” said Kafoury.