Last night, Tom D’Amore, founder of D’Amore Law Group, spoke with reporter Alma McCarty of Portland’s KGW News about the West Linn police department’s mishandling of the criminal case against David Farley, recent comments by the Clackamas County District Attorney who oversaw the case, and survivors’ calls for the public release of the grand jury transcripts.
In 2022, prompted by a letter from over 70 survivors assaulted by David Farley to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, the city launched an independent investigation into the West Linn Police Department’s conduct during the criminal proceedings.
The investigation found that survivors were not interviewed by qualified investigators. Nearly half of the police interviews with women who allege Farley sexually assaulted them were conducted without a victim’s advocate present, and some recorded follow-up interviews of women who filed complaints went missing from West Linn police files.
Speaking to KGW, Tom D’Amore said “The District Attorney’s office and the West Linn police department interviewed a lot of witnesses. They held a grand jury, which we believe [the grand jury] was not given sufficient information and therefore decided not to move forward [with the case].”
Following the release of the independent investigation report in February, significant public scrutiny was levied against the West Linn Police Department and Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth by survivors and allies alike. In response, Wentworth published an Op-Ed defending the integrity and accuracy of the criminal investigation and “setting the record straight.”
“My thought is that you see what information was given to the grand jury, and if key, obvious information of sexual abuse was not provided, then reconvene another grand jury,” said Tom D’Amore. Tom, alongside the survivors, called for the public release of transcripts from the grand jury, which they believe will provide additional evidence that West Linn PD and DA Wentworth mishandled the criminal investigation.
Tom continues to play a pivotal role in the fight to hold David Farley accountable, representing more than 100 survivors in an Oregon civil lawsuit against Farley and the medical institutions he worked at that enabled his sexual abuse.
The lawsuit, filed in 2020 against both Farley and the medical institutions that sheltered him and enabled his predation, claims that Farley exploited his position as a trusted doctor and leader within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church) to target his victims, taking advantage of the trust within a tight, devout community.
The extent of Farley’s abuse is extremely disturbing, occurring under the guise of medical treatment, and often involved minors. The suit outlines more than 25 years of reprehensible sexual abuse perpetrated by the disgraced former doctor.
