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Man receives 8-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting woman on MAX train

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A man was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Wednesday for sexually assaulting a woman on a MAX train in 2021 and threatening two men with a knife.

William Wesley Gilchrist, 40, pleaded guilty to first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He will be required to register as a sex offender following his release from his 100-month prison sentence.

William Wesley Gilchrist (Beaverton Police Department)

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office says that just after midnight on June 25, 2021, Gilchrist and a 31-year-old woman were riding the MAX train. When the woman got off at the Beaverton Creek station, Gilchrist followed her, attacked her from behind and sexually assaulted her.

A pair of Good Samaritan men witnessed what had occurred and pulled Gilchrist off the victim. Gilchrist threatened both men with a knife and then ran into the woods near the Nike campus before he was arrested by Beaverton police.

Officials say Gilchrist was under the influence of meth and the assault was caught on surveillance from TriMet’s cameras.