The Oregon Observer
Sept., 1999

The Gaston Case

Federal District Court Judge, Ancer Haggerty, by his latest action in dismissing the Federal Racketeering complaint of Pamela and Wilbur Gaston of Mt. Angel, Ore., has earned for himself a special place in The Oregon Observer's Hall Of Shame.

The outrageous abuse of the Gaston's by judges, SOSCF caseworkers, police and other public employees has been thoroughly documented in prior editions of The Oregon Observer. The Gaston's were prosecuted in Marion County for violating a restraining order that prevented them from publishing the contents of state files that they had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which documented the repeated sexual and physical abuse of Wilbur Gaston's seven year old daughter, Melissa Gaston, in various foster homes, while she was under the "protection" of the SOSCF.

In that prosecution, the Gastons asserted as a defense that they were the victims of a conspiracy involving Marion County judges, SOSCF caseworkers, police and other public employees. After a four-day trial Judge Wayne Erstgaard instructed the jury that if they found such a conspiracy to exist they could find the Gastons not guilty of violating the restraining order.

In an unprecedented turn of events, a Marion County jury found that Marion County judges and others were, in fact, conspiring against the Gastons because the Gastons were exposing the corruption within SOSCF and the judicial system. The Gastons put the same facts that Marion County jury had examined, in finding the judges and others were conspiring against them, in a Federal Racketeering complaint.

This month's Hall of Shame winner, Ancer Haggerty, dismissed the complaint claiming it had no merit and was frivolous.