Salem man gets six years for rape of 17-year-old girl

A Salem man was sentenced to six years in prison and four years of probation for raping a 17-year-old girl in May 2018. 

According to court documents, Kevius Clark, 43, was in the same house as the 17-year-old victim when he grabbed her by the hair and forced her outside and into a pickup truck, drove her to an alley behind a Daylight Donuts shop and raped her. 

The victim said the man who raped her, called "Octavious," "O" and "Miami," was an acquaintance of hers she first met when she was 12 years old.

She was able to identify Clark with "100% certainty" in a line up of photographs four months later, although the defense argued that method was unreliable because the victim used drugs and struggled with memory loss. 

Defense Attorney Bradley Steinman filed a motion to exclude the photograph lineup as evidence, but the motion was denied by Marion County Circuit Court Judge Donald Abar. 

The victim struggles with mental illness and learning disabilities, dropped out of high school and is periodically homeless, according to a police interview conducted when the victim was treated at Salem Hospital a day after she was raped.

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She told police she used meth, among other drugs, and lived in a house with several other individuals who used meth.

At one point, the case was closed after Sgt. Jacob Burke was unable to obtain video surveillance footage of the crime, and in attempts to follow up, the victim said she wanted to "move on." 

But two months later in July, Burke learned the victim was in custody at the Marion County Juvenile Department and was disclosing information about the rape to an employee. She agreed to be interviewed and the case was reopened. 

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In August, Sgt. Burke identified Kevius Clark as going by the nickname "Miami," and he matched the victim's description. After the victim identified Clark, he was arrested and charged with rape in the first degree and sexual assault in the second degree. 

Clark plead guilty to a lesser charge of attempted rape, and the other charges were dropped.

He had previously been arrested when a 43-year-old woman reported Clark had raped her and forced her into prostitution, but the charges were dropped when the victim decided against proceeding. 

After his release from prison, Clark will be required to register as a sex offender. 

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Reach Samantha Hawkins at shawkins@gannett.com or 503-798-1623