Alleged booby trapper still has job

ASHLAND, Ore. – A psychiatrist for Jackson County in Southern Oregon still has his job while awaiting disposition of criminal charges alleging he set booby traps to hurt mountain bikers on national forest trails around Ashland.

County Administrator Danny Jordan told the Medford Mail Tribune that the county considers Jackson Tyler Dempsey innocent until proven guilty, and none of the alleged crimes happened while Dempsey was at work. Jordan added that Dempsey remains a licensed psychiatrist.

“He’s afforded due process,” Jordan said.

Dempsey was accused of stringing nylon cords and throwing out nails and other obstacles on trails shared by hikers and mountain bikers around Ashland. The charges are assault and reckless endangerment.

Dempsey is to appear in court Oct. 29 to decide whether he wants to go to trial.

Dempsey was arrested July 22 after some mountain bikers saw someone on a trail where small trees had been thrown across the path. The cyclists called in a description to the U.S. Forest Service.