A Gladstone man is accused of abducting a Canadian child he met online, taking her across the border in the trunk of his vehicle and sexually abusing her on multiple occasions, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Noah Madrano, 41, made his first appearance Monday in federal court in Portland.
His lawyer, Gregory Oliveros, entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to charges of traveling in interstate or foreign commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, sexually exploiting a child, transporting a child interstate with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and possessing child pornography.
Madrano is accused of meeting a girl younger than 14 online, then traveling to Canada to meet her in person on at least two occasions before taking her across the border to the United States, according to prosecutors and court records.
On the first visit, he took her to a hotel room in Canada, sexually abused her and video recorded the abuse, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.
During a second visit, Madrano is accused of abducting the girl from outside her school, taking her to a hotel room and sexually abusing her for several days. At the hotel, Madrano made the child dye her hair and wear a hooded sweatshirt to disguise her appearance, according to prosecutors.
After briefly returning to the United States, Madrano went back to Canada, picked up the child and drove her in the trunk of his vehicle to a hotel room in Oregon City, where he continued to abuse her, prosecutors allege.
On July 2, FBI agents and Oregon City police located Madrano and the girl in a hotel room in Oregon City.
Madrano was arrested on state charges, and the girl was taken into protective custody and returned to her parents in Edmonton, Canada, according to prosecutors and court records.
Madrano was initially indicted in Clackamas County, accused of second-degree rape, sexual abuse and kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In the Clackamas County case, prosecutors sought a judge’s order to compel Madrano to unlock his cellphone, which they seized from the hotel room where he had been arrested.
“After numerous attempts with the latest technology, the FBI determined that they could not access the defendant’s cell phone without a passcode,” state prosecutors wrote to a judge. The alleged victim told police that Madrano had used his phone to take numerous photos and videos of her unclothed, according to court records.
On Oct. 17, a Clackamas County judge ordered Madrano to unlock his phone for investigators, records show.
Madrano remains in custody. A federal trial is now tentatively set for Dec. 13.
At the time of his arrest, Madrano was unemployed and had no prior criminal record beyond traffic violations, according to his lawyer.
Madrano had been an on-air volunteer at KBOO community radio. Once KBOO learned of his arrest, the radio station said in a message on Twitter in July that it had “acted swiftly to remove the content from the website and banned the suspected volunteer from the station.”
The Edmonton Journal reported in August that Madrano was listed on a podcast app as the producer and co-host of a program that aired on KBOO called Sub-Human Intellect Theater, which was posted June 13 — 11 days before the girl’s disappearance. One episode featured a segment in which the host pretended to have phone sex with a teenage girl, according to the The Edmonton Journal.
The FBI Portland’s Child Exploitation Task Force investigated the case with Oregon City Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
