Man gets 10 years for abuse of his family

A Salem father of eight children was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to 12 charges of physical abuse of his wife and their eight children and sexual abuse of two of his daughters.

Jose Reyna-Rojas, whose biological and adopted children were present in the Marion County Courthouse for the plea, was sentenced on domestic violence charges against his wife, physical abuse of all eight children and sexual abuse of two daughters. The woman and children all bear physical scars of what is being estimated as about two decades of abuse by Reyna-Rojas.

Gillian Fischer, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case, said it began when one of the daughters convinced her mother to report a severe and violent incident that happened in February. After interviewing the children about the domestic violence case, allegations into the sexual abuse surfaced as well.

Reyna-Rojas was arrested and charged in February.

The Marion County District Attorney's Office used trained forensic interviewers from Liberty House, a child-abuse assessment center serving Marion and Polk counties, as part of its investigation. The children and teens, ranging in age from 8 to 21, were given a safe environment at Liberty House to share stories about being struck with electrical cords and PVC pipe, Fischer said.

The children also acknowledged witnessing their mother being abused.

"This had been ongoing for a long time," Fischer said. "The interviews with the children were crucial to making this case. But some of the children are still conflicted. They love the only dad they've ever known, and think he was a good provider."

Marion County Sheriff's Detective Matt Hagan handled the majority of the investigation into the history of Reyna-Rojas' abuse. Hagan said children who have witnessed domestic violence do not walk away unscathed.

"There is trauma associated with that experience that may stay with that child long into adulthood," Hagan said.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hart, who presided over the plea and sentencing, reminded Reyna-Rojas of the pain he'd caused his family, Fischer said.

"This was just such a horrendous case," she said, noting that in one study by the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, children who were exposed to violence in the home were 15 times more likely to be physically and/or sexually assaulted than the national average.

Fischer said it was stipulated in his plea agreement that Reyna-Rojas' 120-month prison sentence be served without eligibility for earned good time or alternative incarceration so that his youngest child will be at least 18 years old before he could be released.

ccurrie@statesmanjournal.com; 503-399-6746 or follow on Twitter at @CATMCurrie