On March 7, 2025 the Honorable Stephen Hedlund sentenced Richard Travis Carlson to three (3) consecutive terms of life imprisonment, in the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC), without the possibility of parole, for crimes committed from 2018 to 2023.
After a two-day trial, which began on February 26, 2025, a Klamath County jury found Carlson guilty of eight separate counts of Sodomy in the First Degree under ORS 163.405. The eight counts included three separate victims, all of which were under the age of twelve years old at the time of the offenses. The crimes themselves represented years of systematic sexual abuse at the hands of this perpetrator.
This sentence represents a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the identified victims and is one of the longest such sentences in Oregon history for sex crimes. The sentence itself was aggravated because the defendant was previously convicted, in 1998, in the State of Washington, for felony Rape of a Child. The victim in the Washington case was also under the age of twelve at the time of that offense.
The investigation began with reports in 2023 to the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) and was immediately investigated by the Oregon State Police (OSP), with assistance from the Klamath Falls Police Department (KFPD). Forensic examinations of the victims were performed with the assistance of experienced professionals at Klamath-Lake Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services (CARES), an affiliated medical center of Sky Lakes. Klamath-Lake CARES is our community’s local, non-profit child advocacy center.
The Klamath County District Attorney’s office would like to extend appreciation to those agencies involved, and in particular: OSP Detective Carraig Colahan, CARES forensic interviewer Annie Mitchell, and all the resource parents, staff, and other family members that helped investigate these crimes and provide support for the three young victims.
If you know a child that is being abused or hurt right now, please call 911. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement or call the Oregon state child abuse hotline at 855-503-7233 to prevent future abuse.
