Gage hit with 54 new charges; total at 121

Last updated 8/22/2000 at Noon

A Deschutes County grand jury has slapped Steven Michael Gage with 54 new charges related to the operation of Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls. This is in addition to the 67 charges filed as of June 16.

Royal Haven, a home for "troubled" girls, operated in Sisters and Bend for about five years under the direction of Gage and his partner, Karen Lee.

Gage now faces a total of 121 allegations. Counts 1 through 109 include a litany of sexual activity with underage girls or young women who were "incapable of consent..."

These charges include rape, sodomy, sex abuse, and unlawful sexual penetration. Of the 54 new charges, 47 involve illegal sexual activity with a single girl who was 16 years of age when the alleged activity began.

At least one of the charges of Rape III alleges that Gage had intercourse with "a person under the age of sixteen years."

Counts 110 through 118 charge that Gage "unlawfully and knowingly, having a legal duty to provide care... (did) withhold necessary and adequate medical attention and physical care" from nine separate girls.

Gage and Lee had parents of the girls sign power of attorney forms for the girls, authorizing Gage and Lee to provide medical care. According to parents and girls who were interviewed by The Nugget, Gage and Lee failed to provide medical attention to girls who were kicked by horses or had other medical conditions. One girl told the newspaper she was not given medical attention after being scalded by boiling water and will always carry a scar of several inches.

The theft charge, Count 119, is new with this latest amendment to the indictment. The grand jury alleges theft in excess of $10,000 and the alleged loss caused by Gage at more than $50,000.

Authorities estimate that Gage received more than $480,000 per year in tuition from parents of the girls. They do not know what he did with that money.

In court documents, Gage has stated that "he was an unemployed, stay at home dad who occasionally babysat for room and board," according to a state memorandum opposing the reduction of Gage's bail from $1 million.

Gage has been in Deschutes County Jail since his arrest on June 2, 2000.

Royal Haven was incorporated in the name of Karen Lee. According to the state memorandum, when Royal Haven was searched, "there was no evidence of any type of paperwork related to Royal Haven, no payment book, no accounting sheet, no financial records, no contracts and no bank statements."

The money laundering alleged in Counts 120 and 121 is alleged to have occurred last fall, after October 1, 1999.

According to authorities, Gage has been assigned a public defender after his former attorney declined to represent Gage at public defender rates.

Not all of the former residents of Royal Haven have turned against Gage. Several, at least, continue to support him.