Former cop faces charges of sexual assault of girl

Karen Zekan

Friday, Sept. 12, 1997 | 10:58 a.m.

A 54-year-old former police officer and ex-con was scheduled to appear in an Oregon court today after being arrested this week at his Las Vegas home on felony sex charges involving a young girl.

Lloyd Grundmeyer is accused of assaulting the Oregon girl numerous times over a five-year period beginning when she was 8 years old, Oregon authorities said.

Detectives Jerry Gustaveson and Ken Pagano of the Canby, Ore., Police Department arrived in Las Vegas Sunday evening and, after obtaining the necessary warrant, arrested Grundmeyer on Monday at his home at 5134 Merrill Circle, near Tropicana Avenue and Mountain Vista Street, where he had been living for the past 1 1/2 years.

Two pornographic videotapes and an automatic handgun were seized from the residence, Gustaveson said. Authorities believe a male roommate sharing the Merrill Circle home had no clue of Grundmeyer's alleged sexual perversions.

A detective from the Metro Police sex abuse detail assisted in the operation.

In a telephone interview with the detective from his Oregon home Thursday night, Gustaveson said he had been working on the Grundmeyer case since receiving a call this past June from an informant in Las Vegas.

"The informant called me and thought this was something we needed to get involved in," he said. "This person had spent time with the two families involved in this case -- they were friends -- and said that something was definitely going on."

Gustaveson launched an investigation, interviewed the girl about the crimes and learned that she had been victimized multiple times in several states. Grundmeyer allegedly made sexual advances upon the victim's older sister and a stepsister, both of whom the detective said "told him to get lost."

"It was not uncommon for this man to travel with the girls to Idaho, California and Nevada, and he was frequently at their families' homes," Gustaveson said.

"He also apparently had intercourse with her in Nevada, although she was unable to tell us exactly where."

Some of the crimes occurred in Canby, population 13,000, about 15 miles south of Portland. His official charges include one count of first-degree and two counts of second-degree sexual penetration, three counts of sex abuse, and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor.

Grundmeyer allegedly plied the girls with alcohol, "at one point even telling the girls that they had to increase their tolerance," Gustaveson said.

Police were unable to find in the man's Las Vegas home several photos that he is believed to have taken of them at one point in their relationship.

Grundmeyer's vehicle still had Oregon plates and he had been operating the car with an Oregon driver's license, despite having become a Nevada resident back in 1995.

Grundmeyer retired on a disability from the Portland Police Department after serving 18 years. He was arrested in 1985 on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse involving his daughter's best friend. He pleaded guilty to the sex abuse charge and served prison time.

Gustaveson's victim, who is now 15, is a junior at a Woodburn, Ore., high school and "is trying to get her life back together," Gustaveson said. "I think she just wants to put all of this behind her."