A federal judge Wednesday declined to release a Gladstone man accused of sexually abusing and abducting a 13-year-old Canadian girl who federal agents say he stowed in his trunk as he drove her to Oregon.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You made the ruling after a plea from the girl’s father to keep 40-year-old Noah Whitefield Madrano in custody as he awaits trial.
The father said Madrano left behind a “shell” of the girl he has raised. She had been reported missing on June 24. The Oregonian/OregonLive isn’t naming the father to protect the girl’s identity.
Madrano is accused of meeting the girl online, then traveling to Canada and taking her to a hotel on more than one occasion to sexually abuse her before abducting her in late June and driving her in the trunk of his car to Oregon City. Federal agents raided a hotel room in Oregon City on July 2, where they found Madrano with the girl, according to prosecutors.
The father, testifying at the video conference hearing from Canada, alleged Madrano strangled his daughter, tried to drown her in a bathtub and threatened to kill her, have sex with her dead body and sell her organs.
“She was alone,” he said. “She was scared.”
The girl’s father called Madrano “dangerous” and “devious,” a broken man who “will stop at nothing to fulfill his desires.”
“My daughter’s only solace right now,” he said, is that Madrano is in custody “and has no way of getting to her.”
Defense attorney Gregory Oliveros urged the judge to allow Madrano to be released to the “24-7″ supervision of his mother and father with electronic monitoring and other tight restrictions of his movements as well as limited access to his computer.
“I don’t see Mr. Madrano going anywhere,” Oliveros argued.
Oliveros said he’s not ignoring the seriousness of the allegations but believes Madrano’s release under strict supervision is necessary to help him work with Madrano to review discovery evidence in the case to work out a resolution for both his federal and state cases.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mira Chernick argued against Madrano’s release to his parents, saying they posted $50,000 bail for him on Friday in his state case and supported their unemployed son for years.
He was arrested on a federal indictment Monday, three days after he bailed out of Clackamas County jail. In Clackamas County Circuit Court, he has pleaded not guilty to rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse, sodomy, luring a minor and using a child in a sexual display.
This week, he pleaded not guilty to a six-count federal indictment charging him with three counts of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count each of sexual exploitation of children, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and possession of child pornography.
Chernick said Madrano received money from his father to start his own production company called Power T Productions and then used the company to produce child pornography and other child exploitation materials.
She said investigators found a “compilation video” that contained multiple videos and clips of the Canadian girl engaged in sexually explicit activity. The title card on the video said it was produced by Power T Productions, she said.
“He’s already used money from his parents to conduct his child exploitation activities,” the prosecutor said, adding that the government has no reason to believe that Madrano’s parents were aware of what their son was doing.
She said Madrano tried to obstruct justice after his arrest, by directing his father on a call from jail to retrieve a USB drive from a hiding place in his apartment to give to his attorneys to provide to him in jail. The father, instead, handed over the USB drive to FBI agents two days later, when they confronted the father of their suspicion he had it, Chernick said. The USB drive contained child pornography, she said.
Madrano, a former on-air volunteer at KBOO community radio, is also a flight risk, considering he’s facing potential life in prison if convicted, Chernick said.
The judge denied release, finding overwhelming evidence that Madrano poses a risk of danger to the community and a risk that he might not return to court if released.
“These are some of the worst allegations I have heard,” You said.
Oliveros asked if it’s possible for him to return to court in the future and request that Madrano be released to an inpatient treatment center.
The judge made it clear that wouldn’t be useful.
“That would not sway me to release Mr. Madrano because, quite frankly, inpatient treatment facilities are not secure facilities.”
— Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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