Family asks: Why is son still jailed?

Parents of alleged panty thief say he’s sick, not dangerous

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Feb 8, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Dong Kim was exhausted Saturday morning Ñ but she still had a traditional Korean lunch to fix as a thank-you for more than a dozen friends and neighbors.

Kim and her husband, Joo, had spent the previous two days in Washington and Multnomah County courtrooms, watching as their son, Sung Koo Kim, appeared at consecutive bail reduction hearings.

Sung Koo Kim Ñ the so-called panty thief Ñ is being held on numerous burglary and theft charges for allegedly stealing thousands of pairs of women’s underwear in Benton, Multnomah, Yamhill and Washington counties. Kim, 30, also is charged with possessing child pornography on his home computer in Washington County.

Kim’s attorneys, the father-and-daughter team of Des and Shannon Connall, are trying to get him released on bail before the trials are scheduled. Although Multnomah County Circuit Judge Frank Bearden cut Kim’s bail from $10 million to $800,000 Monday morning, the total amount Ñ $4.38 million among all four counties Ñ is still far more than the Kim family can afford.

“That’s moving in the right direction, but it is still too high,” Dong Kim said Monday morning.

But the Connalls won another victory Monday when Bearden said that Kim is no longer a suspect in the disappearance of Brooke Wilberger, the 19-year-old Utah college student who vanished May 24.

Until then, Kim was the only named suspect in the apparent kidnapping. Now he is just one of several people of interest in the baffling case. In his Monday ruling, Bearden noted that Kim’s bail was originally set at $10 million because he was a suspect in the case at the time.

“It is now known that the defendant is not a suspect in the case so that reason has been removed as a consideration for the high security amount,” Bearden wrote.

On Saturday, despite being emotionally drained from the hearings, Kim’s parents wanted to thank the people who gathered at the family’s suburban Tigard home for their support in the months since their son’s arrest. After preparing a large selection of egg rolls, fried shrimp, seasoned beef, sautŽed vegetables and steamed rice, Dong Kim changed into a long black dress, joined her husband and spoke to the guests gathered in the family room.

“Sung is not dangerous. He is someone who needs help,” Dong Kim told those in attendance.

As the Kims see it, their son’s obsessions are rooted in the alienation he suffered as a child growing up as both a Korean and a Jehovah’s Witness in predominantly white Tigard and Beaverton. The Kims emigrated from South Korea when Sung was 6 years old because they were worried about increasing military tension with North Korea.

Dong Kim explained that Sung became more withdrawn as he grew older. She knew he spent a lot of time in his room alone but only thought he was unwilling to look for work. She said that her son, who has not been charged with a violent crime, was a gentle person who does not even kill insects.

“He needs help, not punishment,” she said Saturday.

Several of the Kims’ guests nodded in agreement as Dong spoke. Steve Young, a Nike manager who lives in the same neighborhood, said many parents can identify with their plight. Gene and Carla Ernster, who live just across the street from the Kims, faulted law enforcement officials for assuming Sung Koo Kim was dangerous.

The Ernsters were especially upset that multiple law enforcement agencies staged an early-morning, SWAT-style raid to arrest Kim on May 29. Gene Ernster said he was awakened around 3 a.m. by an explosion used to blow open the Kims’ front door. Although the door has been replaced, the wooden siding on the front porch is still pockmarked by shrapnel.

“I opened my door to see what was happening and a SWAT officer stuck a gun in my face and told me to get back inside. That’s not what this country should be about,” said Ernster, a plumber who served three tours in the Vietnam War.

Last August, the Kims filed notice that they intend to sue the police for using excessive force during the raid.

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