NO MORE FREE HAIRCUTS ON TRIMET BUSES AND TRAINS

‘TriMet Barber’ gets first-ever lifetime ban from buses and MAX trains

By Andrew Theen

The Oregonian
April 18, 2019

Jared Walter, a 32-year-old man convicted, implicated and charged in dozens of instances of cutting, masturbating into or gluing women’s hair on public transit during the past decade, was banned from TriMet for life on Thursday.

Walter is in jail and charged with two more cases of sexual abuse on TriMet light rail trains, stemming from a March 20 incident.

Doug Kelsey, TriMet’s general manger, issued a statement saying he decided to ban Walter after careful thought.

“The decision to issue this individual a lifetime exclusion from the TriMet system was not one made lightly,” he said in a statement. “As a public transit provider, people rely on our buses and trains to get to jobs and services. But we cannot allow Mr. Walter to continue to ride based on his recent actions and behavior that threatens the safety and well-being of our riders and employees.”

Walter’s history of attacking women on buses and trains dates to 2009, and his crimes occurred in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. He was placed on probation for five years in March 2018 as part of his conviction for a May 2017 incident, where he cut a woman’s hair while riding a bus in Washington County. While he was banned from riding trains or buses as part of that probation agreement, those requirements were dismissed upon his release from custody, and he could legally ride TriMet as of last year.

In September 2017, TriMet’s board approved an ordinance giving the agency’s top officials the ability to issue life-long bans or other more extensive exclusions. That action was taken in response to Walter’s continued crimes on TriMet trains and buses.

TriMet crafted that code to apply to individuals who committed “serious physical offense” against another rider or person on the system, or if they pose a “serious threat to TriMet employees and passengers” or “he or she has committed a sexual assault.”

But that harsh exclusion policy couldn’t be retroactive, and TriMet couldn’t act to ban one of its most notorious riders until Walter reoffended. The exclusion policy allows for the general manager to make an exception to ban a passenger on first offense.

“While TriMet worked with authorities to make a ban on riding transit part of Walter’s parole or probation, we had no control over the ultimate length of his sentences,” Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman, said in a statement. “With new criminal charges pending just four months after his latest release from jail in November 2018, TriMet has invoked the strongest penalty that we as a transit agency can – a lifetime exclusion.”

He has been banned from TriMet several times, including back in 2013 when he received a five-year ban.

“I’m sorry that I hurt a lot of people – the victims, my family, myself," he said at the time. “I want help. I just don’t know how to get it.”

According to TriMet, he will be able to seek a modification or end to the lifetime ban if he “received treatment” and can “prove he has been rehabilitated.”

The ordinance sets out a process allowing individuals to request an appeal hearing once a year.

Victims will be allowed to submit statements if – or when – a banned rider appeals.

Walter, who drew the moniker “TriMet Barber” for his repeated attacks and infatuation with women’s hair through the past decade, is scheduled to appear in Multnomah County court on Friday.

If Walter is spotted on public transit once he’s released, he would face criminal trespassing and interfering with public transportation charges.