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	Minister Arrested in Child Porn Case Internet Case - the Vancouver Man Is Charged with Child Rape and Molestation By Holley Gilbert The Oregonian October 20, 2006 http://www.oregonlive.com/metronorth/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_north_news/1161322759316290.xml&coll=7 Vancouver -- A Vancouver man who was a nonordained youth minister in Portland was arrested in a nationwide federal investigation that has netted 125 subscribers of a hard-core child pornography Web site, federal authorities announced Thursday. Michael Scott Norris, 40, who attended Open Bible Church, was arrested Aug. 16 at his northeast Vancouver home. Norris, who worked as a laboratory technician at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital, is in the Clark County Jail on $900,000 bail. He is charged with four counts of first-degree rape of a child; two counts of first-degree child molestation; two counts of second-degree child molestation; and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. All are state charges. Trial is set for Feb. 14. The federal investigation focused on a commercial Web site offering videos and images of child pornography and focused on those who subscribed to it during late 2005 and early 2006, said Christopher J. Christie, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, where the investigation, dubbed Operation Emissary, was centered. The Web site warned patrons that subscribing was illegal and to be discreet about their purchases, Christie said in a prepared statement. "Norris admitted to sexually abusing at least four children and manufacturing pornographic images of at least two of them when (federal) agents executed a search warrant at his residence to seize his computer," Christie said. He described Norris as a nonordained youth minister and church camp counselor. He was also a medical assistant. The church is at 3223 S.E. 92nd Ave. in Portland. Pastor Phil Newell could not be reached for comment. According to a document filed in Clark County Superior Court, a detective with the local Child Abuse Intervention Center who assisted in the federal child pornography investigation on Aug. 16 learned that "Michael Norris may have had sexual contact with several children who attend his church." The detective interviewed two of the identified children -- a sister and brother -- who said Norris repeatedly had sexual contact with them beginning when the girl was 7 and the boy was 9, the document said. The girl is now 13 and the boy is 15. Clark County authorities have jurisdiction over incidents that took place between 2003 and August 2006, when the girl was 10 and the boy was 12, according to the court document. "Mr. Norris videotaped these events on occasion," the document said. "He also took digital photos of (the siblings) in a sexually explicit manner." The contact took place two or three times a month, first at Norris' Portland home and later, after he moved to Clark County, at his Vancouver home, the statement said. The last incident, it said, occurred at the girl's Vancouver home two weeks before Norris' arrest. No charges have been filed in Oregon. Nor have federal charges been filed, said Michael W. Dion, an assistant U.S. attorney in Tacoma. Dion declined to say whether charges would be filed but noted that when two jurisdictions are involved in such a case and one has filed charges, "that might influence how we'll move forward." Joyce Ordonez, who met Norris 11 years ago when they both worked at Woodland Park Hospital, said Norris is intelligent and gentle. "He's a very caring person, and it's just a dark side he kept to himself," Ordonez said during a phone interview Thursday. "It keeps people quiet instead of talking about it, which is the only way they can get help." Norris has been caring for his 15-year-old nephew since the death of his sister several months ago, court papers showed. If convicted on the state rape charges alone, Norris could face at least 261/2 years in prison. Also arrested in the investigation, which spanned 22 states, was a Boy Scout leader in Mission, Texas. In addition, more than 225 search warrants have given authorities access to subscribers' computers, and "dozens of additional arrests are expected," Christie said.
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