Square dance caller pleads not guilty to child sex abuse charges

Andria Seo on September 20, 2016

A square dance caller pleaded not guilty Monday to child sex abuse charges, according to police and court records.

Law enforcement officers arrested Charles William Garner, 55, on Friday on suspicion of sex abuse, sodomy and other crimes, Tualatin police said in a news release.

Garner has been a “popular” square dance caller in Washington and Marion counties for several years, police said. He was featured in a 2011 Oregonian/OregonLive report about square dancing at the Aloha Grange.

His criminal record includes a 1995 conviction for kidnapping, sexual penetration with a foreign object and sex abuse, according to court records.

Police said Garner lives in Tualatin. Court records list a Northeast Portland arrest. He’s being held in the Washington County Jail on $850,000 bail, according to records.

Investigators have been working on the case since early summer, a Tualatin police spokesman said. They think there may be other potential victims and ask anyone who may have had contact with Garner to call them at 503-691-4842.

Read more about the Charles William Garner case here:

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