David L. Rieben Jr. sat in a Marion County courtroom, listening to himself being described as a criminal predator, his conduct “reprehensible.”

The Keizer father was about to go to state prison.

A jury convicted Rieben, 58, of sexually abusing a relative for more than six years, the evidence showing he used shaming and parental power as his tools of manipulation.

His behavior was “atrocious, deeply concerning and extremely dangerous,” a prosecutor told the judge at the sentencing on April 13.

The proceeding lasted just 37 minutes, the culmination of abuse, silence and finally justice for crimes dating back nearly two decades.

The case ended as national headlines chronicle one powerful figure after another facing public allegations of sexual abuse.

Those leaders, including congressmen, have been tried in the court of public opinion by an American society that experts say is becoming more willing to believe survivors.

Those instances and court cases in Marion County show that increasingly survivors are overcoming fear and doubt to report to authorities. They are more willing to come forward, to name their abusers, to endure criminal justice proceedings that lead to a guilty verdict.

Still, experts say, research shows that only about one third of sexual abuse is reported to law enforcement. In 2025, the Keizer Police Department recorded 39 sex abuse cases resulting in 15 arrests.

Rieben’s victim had been among the silent – until a therapist empowered her to reach out to police.

Now living out of state, the survivor listened by phone to the sentencing proceedings in the courtroom of Marion County Circuit Judge James Edmonds.

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Roberts, outlined why Rieben should be imprisoned. His attorney then urged some leniency. Relatives, including his wife, also pleaded for leniency, saying the jury got the verdict wrong.

The survivor elected not to speak.

Then, Marion County Circuit Judge James Edmonds asked Rieben if he wanted to speak.

“I don’t know what to say,” Rieben said. “I’m very, very sorry.”

An environment of manipulation

According to police and court records, Rieben started abusing his relative when she was 12, one of five children living in a blended Keizer household. The contacts would continue until she moved out of the family home at age 25, according to court records.

Later, the survivor told police what Rieben did when she tried to turn him away. According to a police report, she described him reprimanding her in front of the family “for something she had done wrong that day and would purposely leave her out of fun things all the other kids got to do.”

“David told her repeatedly not to tell anyone else in the family what they were doing because if she did, her family members would all hate her,” according to the police report that Rieben’s attorney filed in court papers.

The prosecutor wrote in her sentencing recommendation that Rieben “created an environment of constant emotional manipulation.” 

The survivor told police that “David often said it is important for children to have good sexual experiences early on, so they aren’t scared of sex.”

Those are classic tactics of abusive predators, according to Meredy Goldberg Edelson. She is a psychology professor emerita at Willamette University and a forensic interviewer of children for Liberty House, a child advocacy center in Salem. She had no role in the Rieben matter.

She said adults can manipulate children to gradually accept the abuse.

 “They’re in charge,” Edelson said. “They’ve got control. They’ve got power. Kids don’t.”

Katherine Green is a senior assistant attorney general at the state Justice Department who has prosecuted child sexual abuse for more than a decade. She was not involved in Rieben’s case but explained what experience has established about such abuse.

“Children who are sexually abused often and almost always are abused by people that they know and people that they love,” Green said. “Offenders exploit that relationship.”

The Rieben family was deeply religious and the children were schooled at home with a religious perspective. Rieben spent his days in his home office. The survivor told police Rieben viewed women as subservient to men. He called them “conniving creatures.”

Keizer police got tipped in 2012 to the possibility of abuse.

A witness called police to report that Rieben appeared to be abusing a girl in the front seat of his pickup truck while in a Keizer bank parking lot.

Police found and questioned Rieben. He tracked down the victim, then 16, before police could reach her.

“He told her to lie to the police or else risk harming the family and its religious beliefs,” the prosecutor would tell the sentencing judge.

The girl did as she was instructed and police closed the case as unfounded.

The abuse continued for years but Rieben’s attorney contended in court that the conduct “ceased to be criminal” once the relative turned 18.

Grand jurors would later charge Rieben with sex crimes through 2019 – more than a decade after the first reported incident. Prosecutors subsequently dropped the later allegations, citing “insufficient evidence.”

The survivor stayed in the family home until she was in her 20s, following a religious edict that daughters should remain with their parents until they married.

At age 25, she finally moved out.

She subsequently married and moved out of state.

What prompts an abuse victim to break their silence varies case to case, authorities say.

“Delayed disclosure in sex abuse against children is very common,” said Green, the state prosecutor.

Edelson said as an adult, survivors of child abuse recognize when they regain control and power – “that feeling of being ready.”

Circumstances emerge for them to come forward with the truth, she said. 

“They feel safe. They feel supported,” Edelson said.

Green said that “what really empowers victims is when they are believed.”

‘Children who are sexually abused often and almost always are abused by people that they know and people that they love. Offenders exploit that relationship.’
–Katherine Green, senior assistant attorney general

Facing her abuser

Therapy opened the way for Rieben’s victim to reach out to police in June 2024. By then, she was 28.

“She realized David will continue to sexually abuse other people in his life if there are never any consequences,” according to the report of her police interview.

Green said investigators and advocates are better trained in supporting survivors and establishing the credibility of their allegations.

“Many victims who come forward after a long delay are surprised by how responsive the system is,” she said.

Edelson said false allegations of abuse are “very, very rare.”

Keizer police assigned the Rieben case to Tim Lathrop, a veteran detective who worked over the next half year to gather the evidence.

That July, with Lathrop listening in, the survivor called Rieben. The recorded call last 82 minutes, capturing Rieben’s continuing efforts to manipulate the survivor.

The recording became Exhibit 1 at his subsequent trial.

In December 2024, a Marion County grand jury indicted Rieben on multiple counts. Keizer police arrested him about a month later outside a Northeast Salem grocery store.

Rieben vigorously contested the charges during his trial in March. Among those testifying on his behalf was his wife.

The survivor also testified, facing her abuser from the witness stand.

Doing so isn’t easy for victims, Edelson said.

“They have to be strong. They have to be resilient. They have to be courageous,” she said. “For some people, they really want to go to court. They want justice.”

The jury found Rieben guilty of seven counts. 

“She needed a father,” Roberts, the prosecutor, said at sentencing. “What she got was a predator.”

Rieben was subsequently sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Ted Coran, Rieben’s lawyer, said at sentencing he hoped the conviction would prove a “salve” for the survivor.

“She was vindicated,” Coran. “She gets heard.”

If you have been abused: Confide in someone you trust, contact authorities.

Call: Child Abuse Hotline – 855-503-7233

Call: Keizer Police Department – 503-390-3713

NOTE:

*Those reporting can remain confidential. 

*Oregon’s “Good Samaritan” law otherwise protects citizens reporting in good faith are shielded from civil liability.

*Under Oregon law, it is illegal to knowingly turn in a false abuse report.

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