Bar association suspends former district attorney from Scappoose

Bar investigators say Greg Olson misrepresented case to state welfare workers

By Stover E. Harger Iii

The South County Spotlight, Nov 18, 2009

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A Scappoose attorney was suspended from practicing law after the Oregon State Bar found he had misrepresented information to the Oregon Department of Human Services while working as a senior deputy district attorney in Washington County.

The state bar suspended Gregory W. Olson for 180 days on Aug. 24 after they say they discovered Olson had given false information to DHS, and later, to bar investigators, about a 2006 sex abuse trial.

When contacted by cell phone, Olson said he could not comment on the suspension or what led to it because it would violate confidential information from his time as a district attorney.

He did say he was humiliated to have the disciplinary action published by the state bar.

Olson said he has never practiced law in Scappoose and, while still keeping his license active, has no clients and no office. Olson has been a member of the Oregon State Bar continuously since 1993.

The suspension stems from a July 2006 trial when Olson was representing the state against a father who was accused of sexual contact with his minor child. During that trial the child’s grandmother testified on behalf of the father, who was later acquitted.

The child’s mother had custody, but six weeks after the verdict, she was arrested on drug charges and the child was taken away. DHS was looking to place the child with the grandmother, but agency officials say Olson told them that during the trial she had lied multiple times and was warned about her behavior by the judge.

The child was subsequently put into protective custody with the state.

After an appeal from the grandmother, an administrative judge found that the grandmother had not lied during the trial and was never warned by the judge while on the stand. In 2007, the child was remanded back to the mother’s care.

Oregon State Bar documents say that Olson was convinced that the father was guilty and, because the grandmother testified in support of him, Olson was worried that she would, or could, not protect the child from the parents.