A Portland man was sentenced Wednesday to 1 1/2 years in prison for forcing himself on a teenage girl he met at Fort Vancouver High School, where he’d visited while in possession of school-affiliated identification stating he was 16.
Cortez Carl Williams, 28, pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to indecent liberties and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, a gross misdemeanor. He previously faced charges of indecent liberties with forcible compulsion and third-degree child molestation before reaching a plea deal with the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
On Jan. 2, the girl’s mother returned home and found her 14-year-old daughter in her bedroom wearing only a bra and staring toward her closet door, according to a probable cause affidavit. When the woman opened the closet, Williams was inside and wearing only a shirt. The girl’s mother then chased him from the house.
When interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center about two weeks later, the girl said she met Williams at her high school and planned for him to come over after Christmas break. He came over, and the two were watching television when he tried to hold her down and rape her, the affidavit said.
But when the girl’s mother came home, Williams became scared and hid in the closet, the girl said, according to the court document.
The girl also told investigators Williams “knew she was a freshman in the high school and 14 years old at the time because she told him,” the affidavit reads. “She believed (Williams) was 16 years old because he was at the high school and had a Fort Vancouver High School identification saying he was that age.”
Vancouver Public Schools spokeswoman Pat Nuzzo said in January that the school had no record of Williams checking in under his name.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor James Smith said Wednesday that Williams and the girl communicated online and that she suffers from cognitive disabilities. The girl’s father spoke during sentencing.
“How dare he enter our home, give our daughter marijuana with the intent to have sex and rape her,” he said. “The home has been disrupted. It is not a home anymore because of his presence.”
Therese Lavallee, Williams’ court-appointed attorney, said her client also suffers from cognitive disabilities and is “emotionally immature.”
During his statement, Williams asked for a lesser sentence. Judge Gregory Gonzales asked if Williams understood the harm he had caused the girl and her family.
“Yes, I’m suffering, too,” Williams said.
Williams then asked if he could be granted work release instead of prison and whether he could use medical marijuana to ease his swollen legs.
“I’m not really worried about your harm,” Gonzales said. “Most of the time I do care, but at this point, you don’t sound very remorseful. I won’t waste my words on you.”
In the final minutes of the hearing, Williams repeatedly shook his head.
