A judge sentenced a 29-year-old therapy worker to 8 ⅓ years of prison for kissing, touching and having sex with a 13-year-old boy during on-the-job visits to his Gresham home.

Abigail Minjung Kim contended during a 10-day trial that the boy victimized her with aggressive sexual advances and she hesitated for months in 2017 to report his behavior because of a Korean-American upbringing that taught her to be non-confrontational.

A jury, however, took about an hour to unanimously find her guilty of six counts of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree sodomy and second-degree rape because the boy was unable to consent to sexual activity with her because of his age. The jury also found he was a vulnerable victim and Kim had violated her professional responsibility. Kim worked with the boy because he has autism.

Kim’s attorney sought probation, citing a defense expert who said Kim was at low risk of reoffending. The prosecutor asked for nearly 17 years and criticized the expert’s opinion -- in part because little data exists, unlike with male sex offenders, to help predict the likelihood that female sex offenders will relapse.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge David Rees said he was sentencing Kim to some prison time despite the cultural issues that her defense attorney raised.

“Ultimately, we’re talking about a 13-year-old disabled boy,” Rees said.

“I just can’t accept the notion that this conduct would go on as long as it went without some serious culpability ... of the defendant,” he said.

Prosecutor Melissa Marrero said Kim lacks remorse and has no empathy for the victim. Kim traumatized him repeatedly for months just as he reached puberty, an important developmental stage in his life, Marrero said.

“She continues to believe that she was the victim in this case,” Marrero said. “... She doesn’t believe she needs sex offender treatment.”

Kim spent long spells during the 90-minute hearing looking down at the table in front of her and showed no emotion.

Before learning her sentence, Kim stood up to offer a brief statement.

“I’m deeply and sincerely sorry,” Kim said. “... I will do my best to improve my life and those around me regardless of what you sentence me to.”

Kim worked as a behavioral technician for Footprints Behavioral Interventions, which provided therapy for children with autism. She saw the boy daily, and abused him behind the closed door of his bedroom, the prosecutor said.

Key to the case was the testimony of the boy and Kim’s incriminating internet searches. According to the prosecution, those included: “Can a teenage boy become attached to the girl he lost his virginity to,” “legal proof of child sexual abuse in the absence of physical evidence” and “15 years younger boyfriend." At the time of the abuse, Kim was 28 -- 15 years older than the boy.

But at least one search implied something different going on: “Can a minor be charged with sexual harassment.” Marrero, the prosecutor, said Kim looked up those search terms and others that might help her defense only after she’d been removed from working with her victim and knew she was in trouble.

Kim had no criminal history. She lived in a Happy Valley apartment with her mother and one of her adult sisters, who has Down syndrome and autism. According to Kim’s defense, she was an important and loving caretaker for her sister.

The boy and his parents didn’t attend the sentencing hearing, but the parents did listen in by phone.

“Ms. Kim destroyed our trust and stole our son’s innocence,” the parents said in a statement read aloud by the prosecutor. The family "can never get back the time lost nor remove the negative memories this incident has placed on our son.”

According to the boy’s parents, Footprints Behavioral Interventions received more than $10,000 a month to treat the boy and a sibling from a taxpayer-funded insurance company.

The family hasn’t filed a lawsuit against the company that employed Kim, but a civil attorney for the family said one is likely coming.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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