By Maxine Bernstein | OregonLive.com | October 29, 2021
David Jubb, a longtime member of Linfield University's board of trustees who resigned under fire, was sentenced to 18 months of probation Thursday and ordered to undergo an alcohol abuse assessment after he entered no contest pleas to two counts of harassment for groping two students.
Jubb, 72, had been set to go to trial Monday, facing an eight-count indictment that accused him of sexually abusing four different students in 2017 and 2019. He had faced one felony count of first degree-sexual abuse and seven misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual abuse.
Instead, all the sexual abuse charges were dismissed and he pleaded no contest to two harassment charges involving two students -- AnnaMarie Motis, an undergraduate student-trustee who said Jubb groped her in February 2019, and another student identified by the initials D.N.D. two years earlier.
Motis said Jubb grabbed her and pulled her body to his as they waited in the lobby of the Michelbook Country Club after a faculty-trustee dinner in February 2019 and then continued to touch her inappropriately at a McMinnville bar afterward.
Motis has publicly talked about the harassment and read a statement at Jubb's sentencing.
"These past three years, you've caused me to live the life of a victim. But that life is no more," she said. "This is the end of your reign of terror over my life and the lives of all those your hand had silenced."
Motis told police that Jubb "aggressively bumped" her legs under the table at the bar and thrust his hand under her dress and touched her genitalia as he sat across from her at the bar.
"I used to hope you would adopt an apologetic heart, or truly any sign of remorse; I thought it would be easier for me to move forward," Motis said in court. "I do believe the guilt that consumes you is so deeply depressed and denied, it has become penance enough."
Jubb, appearing with his lawyers Stephen A. Houze and his son Jacob Houze, didn't make a statement. The no contest plea means Jubb didn't admit guilt but acknowledged the state had sufficient evidence to convict him. Jacob Houze called the negotiated resolution "appropriate."
The plea agreement followed negotiations before Multnomah County Judge Eric J. Bergstrom, who also presided over Jubb's plea and sentencing in Yamhill County Circuit Court.
In the other harassment count, Jubb was accused of over-the-clothes touching of D.N.D.'s buttocks in May 2017.
Jubb must complete 40 hours of community service within a year and was ordered not to possess or use any alcoholic beverages or enter any bars, taverns, liquor stores or dispensaries.
He also must undergo an alcohol-drug abuse assessment within nine months to determine if there's a need for treatment or other intervention, according to court records.
The court dismissed a single count of first-degree sexual abuse and five counts of third-degree sexual abuse against Jubb under the deal.
One of the two harassment charges will be dismissed in 18 months if Jubb adheres to the provisions of his probation, according to court records.
Jubb had to take a psycho-sexual evaluation before the plea agreement was accepted, according to attorneys involved.
Deputy District Attorney Alisa Ray said the four victims in the case wanted Jubbs to "answer for his conduct," plead to more than one count, be required to undergo alcohol treatment and face "some sanction as a measure of accountability."
"They have been gracious and patient with this process. But they did not ask for any of this, what happened to them or the circus that followed," Ray said.
Jubb resigned as a board trustee in June 2019 after Motis had complained that he sexually assaulted her after a faculty-trustee dinner. At the time of his resignation, then-board chair David Baca said it was "due to health concerns." Yet months later, in December 2019, Motis filed a civil suit, and publicly came forward, accusing Jubb of groping her and urged a judge to order Linfield to take steps to prevent and appropriately investigate sexual harassment.
One of the students identified only as G.G. who accused Jubb of touching her groin and buttocks on May 5, 2017, wrote in a statement read in court: "Something I would like the judge to take into consideration are the patterns revealed by this case. It's abuse of power and abuse of people. I believe that it is important that the people who perpetuate these abuses should face consequences for their actions."
Bergstrom mentioned in court that on his drive to the Yamhill County Courthouse Thursday he passed for the first time in his life Linfield University's campus, where he noted his mom had obtained her teaching degree.
"It is a beautiful place and I hate the idea that this case brought any blight on that campus or anyone's experience on that campus," the judge said.
"My hope is that with this resolution, it brings a closure to Ms. Motis and the complaining witnesses and they can go on to live successful and happy lives as the young, hopeful people that they are," Bergstrom continued. "And, for Mr. Jubb, that the issues that may have brought him to this moment he can work on, which I know he's dedicated to doing...and that everybody can put this behind them in an appropriate way while being held accountable."
Jubb is a 1971 Linfield graduate and had served on the board since 1994, chairing its financial affairs committee, according to a college magazine. He was a longtime Portland accountant and lawyer with connections in the corporate and philanthropic world. He's a former partner of Coopers & Lybrand and also served on the board of The Reser Family Foundation.
In September, Baca stepped down as chair of Linfield's board. He had come under wide campus criticism for the handling of the allegations against Jubb. The accusations and fallout from the administration's response rocked the 2,000-student liberal arts college in McMinnville.
In June 2020, a group of university students circulated a petition calling for Baca to resign after a faculty vote of no-confidence in Baca the month before.
The faculty members found Baca failed to protect students after receiving a complaint in 2018 from a graduate who accused Jubb of sexually abusing her and two of her friends in 2017.
The Linfield graduate told The Oregonian/OregonLive in May 2020 that the school failed to intervene as promised after she reported in 2018 that Jubb allegedly groped her and two other students after drinking too much at a bar following a senior achievement dinner on campus in 2017.
She singled out Baca for criticism, saying the school's general counsel told her that Baca "gave his word that David Jubb would never have contact with students again or be allowed at events that served alcohol."
Yet on the night of the harassment of Motis in 2019, Baca acknowledged that he was with the group at the bar and said he purposefully sat next to Jubb when he had learned Motis, a student-trustee, also had gone there with Jubb and other trustees, according to university spokesman Scott Nelson.
Motis sued the university, reaching a settlement of $500,000 last year. She's also reached a separate, undisclosed settlement of the civil case with Jubb.
