A 73-year-old Umatilla man is going to state prison for 10 years for the sexual abuse of two children.
Boyd Stanley Thomas in a deal Friday, March 15, in Umatilla County Circuit Court pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Circuit Judge Gregory Baxter handed down the 10-year sentence plus 10 years of post-prison supervision.
In exchange for the plea, the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office dropped one count of first-degree sexual abuse and five counts of first-degree sodomy.
The case began in December 2022, according to court documents, when Hermiston police received a report about a sex crime involving a child. Hermiston police investigated the allegations and arrested Thomas in September 2023 in the wake of a grand jury indictment.
The state alleged Thomas molested and abused a child younger than 12 in 2004 and 2005 and that he abused a different child younger than 12 in 2022.
The week before Thomas entered his guilty plea, the district attorney’s office filed a notice that it would offer hearsay statements the victims made to adults as evidence for the abuse.