Judge metes 6-year prison sentence to Dundee resident David Michael Bahr

The Dundee man convicted in May for sexually abusing a then-juvenile girl more than a decade ago will spend the foreseeable future incarcerated.

On Wednesday, June 5, Yamhill County Circuit Court Judge Ladd Wiles sentenced David Michael Bahr to 75 months in prison, 10 years of post-prison supervision, $800 in fines/restitution and to register as a sex offender following his conviction in early May for first- and second-degree sexual abuse and first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and sodomy. He received 24 months imprisonment on the unlawful sexual penetration charge, 40 months on the sodomy charge and 75 months each on the sexual abuse charges.

Wiles reduced Bahr’s sentence for time served since his arrest in September 2023 and set the sentences to run concurrently, meaning he could be released from prison in roughly 66 months (5.5 years). Wiles dismissed first-degree sexual abuse and an attempt to commit a Class A felony charge as part of the sentencing.

First-degree sexual abuse, sodomy and unlawful sexual penetration are Measure 11 charges that require the mandatory minimum sentences meted by Wiles.

Arrest leads to conviction

Bahr was arrested and charged in September 2023 on allegations he sexually abused a girl under the age of 13 for three months in summer 2012 and then on three occasions in September 2013.

He was arrested on a warrant issued by Wiles following the indictment and held on $150,000 bail at the Yamhill County jail. Over more than a year the case progressed through a series of motions and developments, including switching his counsel from McMinnville lawyer Mark Pihl to high-profile defense attorney Ted Corum.

The prosecution and the defense failed to reach an amiable decision during a plea hearing held in January. Corum’s motion in May for a mistrial because a juror may have seen Bahr outside the courtroom was denied by Wiles as well.

Bahr has a past history of criminal behavior: He pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender in 2013, the same year he pleaded guilty to possession of controlled substances, for which he was sentenced to 60 days in jail.