Senate approves database for missing kids

Senate approves database for missing kids

Law inspired by case of 17-year-old Phoenix boy

SALEM - House Bill 3059, which would require police to report missing children immediately to a national database, passed the Senate on Friday. The House passed the bill unanimously May 7.

The bill - sponsored by Rep. Rob Patridge - is one of two navigating the Legislature.

A second proposed law, HB 3035, would make injecting a minor with drugs a class A felony. The bill, which is still being reviewed by the Joint Ways and Means Committee, has yet to be scheduled for a vote on the House floor.

Patridge introduced both bills after the drug-induced disappearance and death of Tommy Kelly, a 17-year-old Phoenix boy.

Kelly was last seen alive Jan. 26, 1999, bloodied and covered in mud as he ran down Pioneer Road near his Phoenix home, telling neighbors, "They're after me." His remains were found in a nearby orchard creek bed June 12, almost 18 months later.

After the remains were found, police arrested Phillip H. Bendell, 31, on charges that he gave the teen meth at a party. In November, Bendell admitted he had injected Tommy Kelly with meth before the teen disappeared in an apparent psychotic reaction to the drug.

Bendell pleaded guilty to one count of delivering a controlled substance to a minor. A Jackson County judged sentenced Bendell to 21/2 years in prison, a stiffer penalty than usual because of his prior convictions and because he injected the drug.

If the Tommy Laws were in effect, Bendell would have gotten nearly twice the time in prison.

"It's important to send a message that Oregon is committed to families that have lost their children," said Patridge.

Child abductions are rare in the Rogue Valley and in the state, according to Medford police Lt. Tim George, who says he has not handled a child abduction case in his 24 years as a police officer.