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© Multnomah County Sheriff's OfficeMark John Walker
A former federal probation officer pleaded guilty this morning to a felony count of aggravated sexual abuse, admitting that he forced a woman that he supervised to have sex with him.

Mark John Walker, 52, of Eugene also pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline to four misdemeanor counts stemming from his fondling and kissing four other female offenders under his supervision. He admitted that he willfully deprived the women of their constitutional right to bodily integrity.

Assistant U.S. attorney Pamala Holsinger said that if a trial were to proceed the government was prepared to show evidence that Walker singled out women with mental health problems or histories of sexual abuse. He often arranged to visit the women he was supervising when they were home alone, would make sexual comments and in several instances, touched their buttocks and breasts and kissed them.

With one victim, he arrived at her home wearing his badge and department-issued firearm. He held her down by her shoulders on her bed while he had sex with her, and told her not to tell anyone. She was "scared to resist because of his power," Holsinger said. "She knew he could make her life miserable."

The victim has filed a federal lawsuit against Walker in U.S. District Court in Eugene. Other victims have notified the government of their claims against him.

As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors said they will recommend a 10 year prison sentence for Walker, who worked as a federal probation officer from May 1987 until July 2009, mostly out of Eugene. His sentencing is scheduled for July 18.