Thief’s parents question jail time

• Sung Koo Kim’s plea deals, sentences spark family confusion

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Jan 20, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Sung Koo Kim’s parents do not understand why their son is facing so much time in prison.

Kim Ñ the 31-year-old Korean-American who has come to be known as the Panty Thief Ñ already has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison for stealing thousands of pairs of women’s underwear in Washington and Yamhill counties, and for possessing child pornography in Washington County. He is facing an additional four-year sentence in Multnomah County for stealing panties and has yet to resolve similar charges against him in Benton County.

But Joo and Dong Kim insist their son is not a criminal. Since he was first arrested on burglary, theft and child pornography charges in 2004, the Kims have repeatedly appealed to the public to understand their son is not a dangerous predator. They say he is mentally ill and needs treatment, not incarceration.

“He is not a violent person. He is not a threat to anyone,” said Kim’s mother, Dong.

The Kims base their conclusion on evaluations conducted by four psychologists since their son was arrested in early 2004. To back up their claims, the Kims provided the Portland Tribune with a 28-page report on the evaluations compiled by Dr. Richard Wollert, a Portland clinical psychologist who also evaluated and treated Kim. The report was prepared for the Kims’ current lawyer, Clayton Lance, last October.

“I read the papers and see that people who have committed worse crimes are getting shorter sentences,” said Joo Kim, pointing to the case of Christopher and Tammi Nickle, a Salem couple sentenced to three years in prison in October for criminal mistreatment of their foster child. The 9-year-old girl weighed just 27 pounds when she was taken into state custody two years earlier.

“We’re begging the public to give our son another chance, to allow us to get him the treatment he needs to become a productive member of society,” Dong Kim said.

Despite the report and pleas, Sung Koo Kim’s mental state is not an issue in his sentencing. Lance has never submitted it to the district attorneys in any of the four counties where his client was charged with crimes. Kim’s sentences are the result of plea bargain agreements he agreed to.

Kim’s parents say they do not understand what is happening in the case.

Kim’s parents say the Yamhill, Washington and Multnomah county deals are not what they or their son intended to authorize. So far, Sung Koo Kim has agreed to serve 68 months in Yamhill County and four years in Washington County, with the terms to run consecutively. The tentative Multnomah County agreement calls for an additional four-year consecutive sentence, the Kims say.

But even though two deals have been approved by the courts, the Kims insist they thought the sentences all would run concurrently, meaning their son would only serve another two or three years in prison.

“We don’t understand what happened. We are so confused by all this,” Dong Kim said.

Lance did not return calls from the Portland Tribune.

Prosecutors in Multnomah, Yamhill and Washington counties defend the agreements, citing the harm done to Sung Koo Kim’s victims Ñ female college students who were horrified to learn he had entered their dorms and laundry rooms, stolen their clothes and other personal belongings and, in some cases, videotaped them without their knowledge.

“You have to take the feelings of the victims into account,” said Yamhill County Deputy District Attorney Alicia Egan, who prosecuted Kim for stealing underwear from homes and dormitories at George Fox University in Newberg and Linfield College in McMinnville.

But Egan also said the evaluations might have made a difference in how Kim was prosecuted, if they had been presented to her office.

“There are times when we take mental illness into consideration when determining how to prosecute a case. It all depends on what type of mental illness and how it affects them. On the other hand, there are times when there are mental health issues but they do not affect the sentencing,” she said.

Computer contents explored

Kim’s case was widely publicized in Oregon over the past two years, in large part because of the unseemly details of his crimes. Police recovered more than 3,000 pairs of women’s underwear and clothing from Kim’s bedroom in his parents’ house, where he lived. Some were labeled with their owners’ names and the locations where they had been stolen. Police also found dryer lint and human hair, some of which was labeled.

Police also found more than 44,000 pornographic images on Kim’s computer, the vast majority of which he apparently had downloaded from commercial bondage and S&M Web sites. According to courtroom testimony, a small percentage, approximately 160 images, showed women being mutilated and fewer, around two dozen, depicted minors involved in sexual activities.

In addition, the computer also included lists and other writings that prosecutors alleged could be plans for abducting, torturing and killing women.

Early on, the case took an even more serious turn when Multnomah County prosecutors submitted a court document that said Kim was a suspect in the disappearance of college student Brooke Wilberger, from Utah, from an apartment building near Oregon State University in Corvallis. Evidence seized from Kim’s room included items stolen from the building. As a result, Kim’s bail was set at a combined total of more than $10 million, in all four counties.

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