WOW!

You never know someone til you get to know someone....


Utterly shocked to find out it was THIS guy.

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Honored fishing enthusiast Mitchell Webb arrested on warrant in sex abuse case

Published: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 5:23 PM Updated: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 5:51 PM

A fishing enthusiast from Canby who helped introduce hundreds of children to fishing was arrested in Alaska earlier this month on an arrest warrant from Clackamas County on first-degree sodomy allegations.

Mitchell D. Webb, 46, was arrested July 9, Alaska state troopers said today. He is being held at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, north of Anchorage, pending extradition to Oregon.

Webb, whose residence was listed as Wasilla, Alaska, had called troopers around 11:30 a.m. that day for roadside assistance. Troopers saw the outstanding warrant, dated June 23, and arrested him on an accusation of being a fugitive from justice, a spokeswoman said.

Webb faces three charges of first-degree sodomy involving a minor boy from 1997 to 2001, said Mike Regan, senior deputy district attorney for Clackamas County. Authorities knew he was in Alaska where he has family, Regan said, and Canby police alerted police there to the warrant.

Webb, who has been featured in The Oregonian, KGW and other news outlets, was a volunteer fishing instructor with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from February 2007 to September 2009, when he resigned. He had passed a criminal check and other requirements to be a volunteer, said Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy. She did not know the reasons for his resignation.

In 2008, Webb led an initiative between the state's fish and wildlife agency and the city of Canby to restore Canby Pond, stock it with trout and turn it into a trout fishery for youths and people with disabilities.

He wrote about the experience in a national essay contest sponsored by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation. His entry won him an all-expenses paid trip to Miami. He was also featured in a 30-second television spot that aired on the World Fishing Network last year.

He was lauded for helping "hundreds of children catch their first fish," according to a Fish and Wildlife press release about him in February 2009, when he won the contest.

He also has hosted dozens of fishing trips for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans in honor of his best friend, Kevin D. Davis, who died in April 2005 in Iraq.


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Mitchell Webb, Canby fishing instructor who taught kids, found guilty of sexually abusing boy

Published: Monday, January 10, 2011, 3:57 PM Updated: Monday, January 10, 2011, 7:07 PM

A former Canby man who taught hundreds of children to fish was found guilty Monday on three counts of first-degree sodomy.

Mitchell Dow Webb, 47, denied that he had sex with the male victim, who was in third grade at the time.

Webb was a volunteer fishing instructor with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from 2007 to 2009 before taking a job in Wasilla, Alaska. He gained national recognition for his efforts to convert a Canby city park pond into a place where kids and the disabled could fish for trout.

A Clackamas County jury voted 11-1 to convict Webb. He is being held without bail and will be sentenced on Thursday.

The abuse occurred at a Canby residence approximately 10 years ago. The boy did not report the crimes until 2009, after he attended a church meeting where a youth pastor urged sex-abuse victims to disclose their experiences, said Mike Regan, senior deputy district attorney.

The boy told relatives abut his encounters with Webb, who was indicted in June 2010.

Webb's attorney, Arthur Knauss, argued that the boy had numerous opportunities over the years to tell therapists about his experience with Webb.

The boy received counseling because he suffered from depression and other psychological problems.

There is no evidence or allegations that Webb had sexual contact with any other children, Regan said.