From Statesman Journal staff and wire reports
August 2, 1990
A former Oregon assistant attorney general was bound over
for trial Thursday in Utah on a charge of felony sexual exploitation of a minor.
Scott McAlister, who left his job of 18 years in Oregon for Utah in January
1989, was ordered to appear for arraignment Aug. 17 on the felony count.
McAlister, 43, is accused of possessing two films taken from evidence in an
Oregon criminal case.
The films
depict youngsters involved in sex acts. His primary job while in Oregon was
legal counsel for the Department of Corrections. If convicted, McAlister, who
resigned as the Utah Corrections Department inspector general in December,
could be sentenced to one to 15 years in prison and fined as much as $10,000.
Defense lawyer Brad Rich stipulated that, for the purpose of the preliminary
hearing, the films meet Utah’s standard of child pornography by showing
"nude or partially nude" minors.
But he argued
that the complaint was flawed because it charges that McAlister possessed the
films even though he had left them at the home of one of his secretaries for
more than six months and, according to the defense, had told her she could do
with them what she wanted. The films were found in a box along with 28 other
movies, some showing adult group sex, which McAlister reportedly tried to show
to former secretary Linda Dreitzler in hopes of enticing her into participating
in group sex.
Dreitzler
testified Thursday that she gave the box to federal agents on Jan. 31 after she
filed a sexual harassment complaint with the state industrial commission.
Federal investigators learned that the two films involving minors, entitled
"Pre-Teen Sex" and "Young Arabian Nights," were evidence in
an Oregon criminal case and had been checked out by McAlister. On Wednesday,
Dreitzler filed a federal civil suit against McAlister, and Director of
Corrections Gary DeLand, charging a sexual harassment cover-up.
It claims
that she was demoted from legal secretary to a clerk because she refused to
participate in group sex with her boss. The lawsuit contends that DeLand knew,
or should have known, of McAlister's alleged actions. DeLand did not return
telephone calls Thursday. McAlister's name recently came up in an Oregon court
case. Defense lawyers for Frank Gable, the man accused of killing Oregon
Corrections Director Michael Francke, contend there was a friendship and
professional relationship between McAlister and Thomas H. Denney, the foreman
of the Marion County grand jury that indicted Gable. At one time, McAlister was
questioned in the murder case and about any knowledge he had of criminal
activities within the Oregon department. Bob Abel, one of Gable's lawyers,
has asked to have the indictment against Gable dismissed or resubmitted to a
grand jury.
Abel
contends that Denney, an Oregon assistant attorney general, may have had
incentive to protect McAlister from an in-depth investigation by the grand
jury. Abel said two weeks ago that Denney's incentive was to protect his boss.
Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer, who is the Republican candidate for
governor, from being associated with the charges that have swirled around
McAlister. Frohnmayer called Abel's assertions preposterous.