KOIN.com

Police charge Portland man with rape, say other victims possible

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The United States Marshals Service arrested a man named Gabriel Forest Weiss on Friday after police said he lured a woman into his home and sexually assaulted her.

Authorities said Weiss, 49, offered the 19-year-old a modeling job and brought her to his home in the Creston-Kenilworth Neighborhood, where police allege he bound and raped her in his studio.

Officers said Weiss has been charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy.

“The suspect lured the victim to his home on the pretense of a modeling job. And then during the course of that interaction, that’s when the assault took place. And it’s important for us to let people know about that fact-pattern, because he may have done it to others,” said Portland Police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen.

The Portland Police Bureau said Weiss may have sexually assaulted others in the past, and are seeking information from other potential victims.

“We know he used mobile names,” Allen said. “So people may not know him as Gabriel Weiss, they may know him for something else. And so that’s one of the reasons we put his photo out there.”

According to a press release from PPB, victims may have had contact with Weiss in these settings:

“Weiss has worked as an artist under the pseudonyms Kawiri Cascabel and Gabe Kawiri. He previously operated the Bamboo Grove Salon, a teahouse, music, art and event space in inner Southeast Portland. More recently, Weiss practiced acupuncture at Clinic Eleven in Portland’s Old Town-Chinatown Neighborhood. In the 2000’s, Weiss was a student and instructor at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland.”

PPB asks those with more information on Weiss to contact Detective Nathan Wollstein at (503)545-3482 or Nathan.Wollstein@police.portlandoregon.gov.

For future safety, Allen said to not enter a place with a stranger alone.

“If you can bring someone with you, if you can remain in contact with someone, that can really help to make sure that you can judge whether it’s legit,” Allen said. “A predator will typically try to isolate the victim and that happened in this case, where she didn’t really have an option to get away.”