Two Salem men were sentenced this week to decades in prison for sexually abusing children in unrelated cases.
A Marion County Circuit Court judge sentenced Timothy J. Shewell, 41, on Wednesday to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him on four of five counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and on one count of second-degree sexual abuse.
Shewell was convicted at trial of abusing two children over several years, one from 2016 to 2019. A second victim was abused between 2014 and 2018.
One of the victims was a teenager at the time of her abuse, according to a Thursday news release from the Marion County District Attorney’s Office. The second victim was 10 years old.
Shewell was charged with abuse of one child in 2021 and another in 2022. The two cases were consolidated for trial and sentencing.
A jury found Shewell not guilty on three other counts of sexual abuse of one of the victims, and unlawful sexual penetration of the other.
“Even after the verdict, Shewell took no accountability and asked the Court to sentence him to the minimum sentence, arguing he is a good person who has never hurt anyone,” the news release said. “Shewell did not apologize for his actions.”
Shewell’s case was investigated by both the Salem Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy said Shewell was an acquaintance of the victims’ families, but declined to share details on the nature of those relationships.
The second case involved a man who sexually abused a young girl when she was between the age of 7 and 10 years old. A jury convicted Randy Lee Salas on six counts of child sexual abuse and a judge sentenced him to 37.5 years in prison on July 30, a second news release from the district attorney’s office said Friday.
Salas was convicted on five counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of first-degree sodomy, court records showed.
According to a secret indictment filed in Marion County Circuit Court in August 2023, Salas sexually abused the victim between June 19, 2019 and June 18, 2021. One of the incidents of child sex abuse involving the same victim took place on or about May 1, 2023, the court documents showed.
Salas’ case was investigated by the Salem Police Department, the release said.
Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.
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Joe Siess is a reporter for Salem Reporter. Joe joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and primarily covers city and county government but loves surprises. Joe previously reported for the Redmond Spokesman, the Bulletin in Bend, Klamath Falls Herald and News and the Malheur Enterprise. He was born in Independence, MO, where the Oregon Trail officially starts, and grew up in the Kansas City area.
