A man convicted in 2019 on eight sex abuse-related charges has been tried and convicted again after the Oregon Court of Appeals ordered a retrial of his case. He was sentenced to 375 months, more than 31 years, in prison.
The Washington County District Attorney's Office said Leo Gabonia, 49, was first investigated in September 2017 after the victim told a family member they were being abused.
In a press release issued Monday afternoon, the district attorney's office said family members contacted police in Forest Grove, who began their investigation.
"The defendant was known to the family and used that connection to gain access to the victim," the district attorney's office said. "Police learned the abuse began two years prior to the disclosure, with inappropriate touching and kissing, and quickly escalated from there. Based on victim accounts and the expertise from staff at Randall Children's Hospital and CARES Northwest, police gathered enough evidence to move forward with charges against Mr. Gabonia," the press release noted.
He was convicted on eight sex abuse-related charges, including first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual penetration and first-degree sex abuse on March 19, 2019.
Washington County Judge Janelle Wipper sentenced him to 375 months in prison after a case prosecuted by then-Deputy District Attorney Chris Lewman, now a senior deputy district attorney. The judge and the prosecutor returned for the second trial.
"Gabonia became very upset after the verdict was issued," the district attorney's office said in 2019. "He jumped on a table in the courtroom and declared he had nothing to live for. He then attempted to jump from a 4th story window but was taken into custody by Washington County sheriff's deputies."
Three counts were later thrown out while his conviction was under appeal owing to three of the eight convictions being rendered by a split jury conviction, which was deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in a 2020 ruling.
The retrial was ordered over medical records prosecutors admitted from the victim's emergency room visit, Washington County District Attorney spokesperson Stephan Mayer said in an email to News in the Grove.
"[Judge Erin Landis] found that some of the information related to the initial encounter should have been redacted from the records," Mayer said. "At the second trial, the State opted to introduce the evidence directly through the ER doctor rather than the records," he added.
A Washington County jury found Gabonia guilty of the five counts on Dec. 5, 2025, and Judge Janelle Wipper sentenced him to 375 months in prison.
The Washington County District Attorney's Office thanked the Forest Grove Police Department for their work on the case.
