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5 more boys accuse man in abuse case

By SUSAN PALMER
The Register-Guard

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SPRINGFIELD - Five more boys have told police that they were abused by a Springfield business owner and Scout leader, investigators said Tuesday.

That brings to 10 the number of boys who say Steven Jeremy Freeman, 36, molested them.

The Lane County district attorney's office has filed 16 charges against Freeman, who was arrested and jailed Friday. His security was raised from $425,000 to $2.825 million.

He now faces six counts of first-degree sodomy, six counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of encouraging child sex abuse and one count of unlawful penetration with a foreign object, a Lane County Jail custody referee said Tuesday night. The alleged crimes occurred on Jan. 31, 1997, Jan. 1, 2001, and Feb. 13, 2002, according to court records.




	Steven Jeremy Freeman

Police found child pornography and other evidence, including a videotape of Freeman having sex with children, when they searched his sports trading card shop, Detective Sgt. Matt Brandt said.

Police began an investigation after the mother of one of the boys reported that her 7-year-old son told her that Freeman had abused him, police said. Investigators identified four more boys in the course of their initial inquiry.

Police discovered five more cases of alleged abuse after families came forward.

A grand jury will meet this week to consider indicting Freeman, District Attorney Doug Harcleroad said.

Freeman owns Trading Cards Unlimited, a sports card trading shop, and was a Cub Scout den leader and a Boy Scout troop assistant leader. As a Scout leader, he worked with 50 to 60 children. He was suspended from Scouting on Friday, when the organization learned of the investigation.

Police were still sorting out how each of the boys encountered Freeman, but say some had met him through Scouting, some through his store and some through both.

Volunteers with the Child Advocacy Center in the district attorney's office are interviewing the boys and their families as part of the investigation.

The interviews are taped so children don't have to undergo repeated interviews, center director Ray Broderick said. Police detectives in a separate room watch the interviews as they're conducted.

Some children will testify before the grand jury, Harcleroad said.

Scouting officials have found a new leader for the Cub Scout den previously supervised by Freeman, said Aaron Escobar, finance director for the regional office of the Boy Scouts of America.

The organization plans a meeting for concerned parents, but hasn't set a date yet, he said.