A Tuesday afternoon ride on the MAX at Pioneer Square turned into a criminal case after a woman told police a man boarded her train, hurled his belongings at her and then groped her as she tried to walk past. Investigators pulled station and onboard video, used the footage to track a suspect and arrested him roughly an hour after the encounter. The case moved quickly into Multnomah County Circuit Court for arraignment and remains active while prosecutors review the filings.
According to KATU, the woman told Portland police the man boarded carrying a pillow, a magazine and what appeared to be a jar of urine, then threw those items at her before groping her buttocks as she passed. Investigators matched the clothing she described with TriMet security footage and arrested 58-year-old Michael George Bogdos about an hour after the reported incident, the outlet reports.
Court documents obtained by KATU quote Bogdos making unprompted statements such as: "Sex abuse III, I touched her ass. Go ahead and cuff me. I should learn boundaries." The filings say he was arraigned Wednesday on counts of third-degree sexual abuse, interfering with public transportation and disorderly conduct, with bail set at $1,000. As of Thursday morning he had not posted the required 10% and remained in custody. The court papers also list an alias, David Lewis Steppe, and note prior arrests dating back to the 1990s, according to the report.
Charges and legal context
Prosecutors charged the case as misdemeanors; under Oregon law, sexual abuse in the third degree is a Class A misdemeanor. Oregon Public Law cites ORS 163.415, which defines sexual abuse in the third degree to cover nonconsensual sexual contact and specifically includes intentionally propelling bodily fluids such as urine at another person. Those statutory details help explain why investigators treated the victim's description of a jar on the train as relevant to the criminal filings.
TriMet video and rider reporting
TriMet's public-records guidance notes that onboard and station surveillance video is kept only for a limited time and must be requested promptly, and the agency documents how to submit requests through its records center. TriMet explains the procedure and the limits on video retention. In this case, security footage provided the lead investigators used to locate and arrest a suspect, according to local reporting.
Bogdos remains in custody as the misdemeanor case moves through Multnomah County Circuit Court and prosecutors weigh their next steps. For now, the victim's report, the court filings and the transit video form the public record of what happened that afternoon on the MAX.
