Police: Manager with Vancouver, Portland drug rehab center tried coercing client into sex

UPDATE: Prosecutors dropped the charges against Luis Rivas in April 2017. Court documents show the victim committed suicide and the prosecution said it was unable to proceed with the case.

ORIGINAL STORY:

A Beaverton, Ore., man who is the program manager at an addiction treatment center in Vancouver and Portland threatened to give a client a failing grade on a drug and alcohol assessment if she refused to have sex with him, according to the Beaverton Police Department.

Beaverton police officers received a call Friday from a 22-year-old woman reporting sexual abuse and coercion. She told officers it occurred during the diversion program she’d enrolled in at the Beaverton Serenity Lane drug and alcohol addiction treatment office.

She said Luis Rivas, 35, of Beaverton, demanded she have sex with him or he’d write failing marks on her treatment assessment, according to the Beaverton police. She was in the program after receiving an intoxicated-driving citation.

Rivas was arrested Friday at his home on suspicion of sexual abuse and second-degree coercion.

Rivas also runs Essential Evaluations, a business that does consulting for teen drug and alcohol treatment. The police said it was unclear whether the victim was a patient at Serenity Lane or Essential Evaluations, but the woman made her report at the Beaverton Serenity Lane office.

Investigators were concerned that there may be others with similar stories, and they ask anyone with relevant information about Rivas to contact the Beaverton Police Department at 503-629-0111. The department said to ask for Detective Doug Jones and reference case No. 16-920832.