Sexual Predator, Freed in O.C., Convicted in Oregon

One of the West’s most dangerous sexual predators -- who by his own count preyed on more than 200 people in at least four states -- was convicted this week of assaulting two Oregon brothers in a case that was resurrected last year after he was freed from a life sentence in Southern California.

Edward Harvey Stokes, who sparked widespread outrage when he successfully appealed an Orange County conviction and walked out of jail last spring, was found guilty by a Portland, Ore., jury Monday of four counts of sodomy and sexual assault.

Stokes, 50, could face about 16 years in prison on those charges, which date to the 1990s, when he is sentenced March 11. Presiding Multnomah County Judge Alicia Fuchs can give Stokes more time, depending on a pre-sentencing report that, unlike his trial, can detail his lengthy criminal history.

The verdict is the latest twist in a tale that has spanned decades, turned a sister against her brother, led to at least one young man’s suicide and infuriated police and prosecutors in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington who chased him down over a generation, but could never seem to stop him from getting out and striking again.

Susan Stokes, an elementary school teacher who became one of her brother’s primary adversaries, was philosophical about the outcome of the latest case. For all the closure it may bring, she said, the emotional toll on her and everyone else involved has been a heavy one that may never be undone.

She said she planned to visit Stokes in jail in hopes of repairing their relationship, although she noted that he might not be open to the idea.

“I’m glad it’s over. My life has been on hold,” she said. “I cried last night for everybody involved in this. For the victims, their families and my family. For the impact it’s had on so many lives, on so many levels. I hope the people involved in this can have some healing. And I hope my brother can find some peace somewhere in his life. I really do.”

Stokes, 50, once wrote of having molested more than 200 people, mostly boys and young men. He has been convicted in at least five sexual assault cases and has spent more than 20 years behind bars.

Orange County authorities thought they had locked him up for good in the late 1990s, after they said he molested Blue Kartak, a teenage runaway.

But the California 4th District Court of Appeal overturned Stokes’ conviction in late 2003.

The court ruled that his constitutional right to cross-examine his accuser was compromised because Kartak had committed suicide by the time a supplemental police report -- containing information that conflicted with Kartak’s testimony -- surfaced.

Stokes was set free last April, after the state Supreme Court declined to review the case.

It was Susan Stokes who alerted the media days after her brother quietly walked out of Orange County Jail. Reports of the ruling and his release made national headlines, fueling public outrage and stirring fear among other victims and their families.

On a tip, police caught up with Stokes at a coin-operated laundry east of Portland.

Multnomah County prosecutors decided to revive sexual assault cases that dated to the mid-1990s and that they did not previously pursue after Stokes was arrested in Orange County. In those cases, he was accused of attacking the two brothers, who were 20 and 24 at the time.