OPRD Volunteer Abuse

At 6:00 AM, after I had been managing distressed guests alone since 3:00 AM during a power outage, I asked my supervisor for operational clarity. Her response felt dismissive. I named her tone in a follow-up email — a professional, documented request for the guidance I needed to do my job.

That email became the origin point of everything that followed.

Not because I did anything wrong. Because I said it in writing, and it created a record.

At the picnic table on March 5, she sat silently while Ryan Warren told me to chew glass and swallow it. She endorsed every word with her presence. When he began making admissions — that I had never been given the benefit of the doubt from day one — she stepped in to reverse it, turning his admission into a accusation: that I hadn't given her the benefit of the doubt.

When I documented the unidentified man who interrogated me alone, she provided cover — claiming he was IT, that photos were being taken — a claim she never substantiated and has never been asked to verify.

On February 9 — the same day Kati Baker responded dismissively to operational questions and I named her tone in a follow-up email — Ryan Warren confronted me alone and cataloged every minor mistake I had made in my first week learning the job. Not to correct me. To establish that there would be consequences for documentation.

On March 5, he summoned me to a public picnic table for over an hour of sustained psychological pressure. For the second time, he told me to “chew glass and swallow it.” He admitted — on recording — that he had never given me the benefit of the doubt. He repeatedly suggested I leave.

He mocked my sexuality, suggesting I “thought I had a future” with my male supervisor after I had explicitly set a boundary with that supervisor and told him our relationship was not romantic. He reframed every documented communication I had sent as concerning behavior. He refused to engage with a single substantive claim.

When I wouldn't quit, he called me on March 24 and dismissed me over the phone. Stated reason: a homeless man's lost journal, and a claim that I had made inappropriate comments about staff. One hour later he arrived at my RV to collect my keys. I recorded the interaction. On camera, he admitted no formal documentation existed for my removal. He gave me 24 hours to vacate the premises.

Six days before my scheduled completion. No paperwork. No process. No cause.

My direct supervisor approached me alone at night in the Welcome Center, where I was working my volunteer shift. He spent 90 minutes drawing me out — his background, his concerns, his perspectives — creating the conditions for reciprocal disclosure.

The following day, at the start of a walk with him, I set a clear boundary: I told him explicitly this was not romantic. Then I shared why I had moved into an RV and relocated to the coast. My analysis of systemic instability. My concerns as a queer person about identity-based targeting through institutional actors.

He disclosed all of it to Kati Baker, Ryan Warren, and Allison Watson.

Ryan Warren used it to mock my sexuality at the March 5 meeting. Allison Watson used it to construct a psychological profile during dismissal proceedings — weaponizing my disclosures to frame me as paranoid and delusional, claiming on a recorded call that I had shared “a staff member would be used to kill you when the end of the world occurs” — a fabrication. I have never believed the world was ending. I have never said anything resembling this to anyone. She pathologized every disclosure I had shared in confidence as evidence of instability. She did this using information a supervisor had a professional obligation to protect.

He elicited trust. He extracted disclosures. He delivered them to people who were already working to remove me.

On March 10, Allison Watson called to tell me I had been “acting as an agent of the state” when I recorded the March 5 meeting — reframing my self-protection as a violation. She told me to “get through my time.” She dismissed documented abuse.

On March 25, she called to contain the situation after my dismissal. I recorded the call. I told her I was still processing. She said okay and proceeded with her agenda. She weaponized Logan's disclosures to frame me as paranoid and delusional. She claimed I had shared that “a staff member would be used to kill you when the end of the world occurs” — a fabrication. I have never believed the world was ending. I have never said anything resembling this to anyone. I told her about the glass, the benefit of the doubt admission, the coercive exit attempts. She responded to each with “okay” and moved on. She promised a review process. She confirmed I could go to Tugman — as a citizen. She knew the volunteer placement was the entire point. The next day she cancelled everything.

I sent her a detailed letter documenting the full pattern of misconduct. Hours later, she permanently expelled me from all Oregon State Parks volunteer programs. She put the reason in writing: “the public comments made about staff regarding your volunteer service, were not in line with expectations.”

That is First Amendment retaliation. On agency letterhead. In her own words.

Her professional background is in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — she held that role at a university before joining OPRD. She built a career on protecting vulnerable people from exactly what she did to me. She knew better. That makes it worse.

On August 15, I notified the director directly of the covert surveillance encounter — an unidentified man sent to interrogate me while I was alone, during a regional event when all rangers were away. I asked three direct questions. She never responded. On December 7, I sent supplemental evidence including video documentation. She never responded.

On August 25, I sent Lisa Sumption a comprehensive open letter with audio recordings, video documentation, email chains, and written evidence of First Amendment retaliation. She responded within 12 hours with procedural language and no commitments. No investigation was ordered. No employees were held accountable. No protections were implemented.

On August 22, I submitted a comprehensive public records request. OPRD went silent for 90 days — a violation of Oregon public records law. After a formal Notice of Violation, they claimed to have responded through an internal portal I had no access to. Cost estimate for fulfillment: tens of thousands of dollars.

On December 8, she closed communication. Her letter deployed therapeutic language to neutralize a factual record — “deeply painful for you,” “frustration and hurt in your words,” “healing” — without addressing a single piece of evidence. She converted documented institutional abuse into a narrative about a person who needs to heal. Every person who abused their authority remains in their position. She shielded all of them.

She had the evidence. She had the authority. She made a choice.

Oregon's first openly LGBTQ+ governor. A gay volunteer documented identity-based targeting by her state employees. Her appointed director shielded the abusers. Her office received a formal complaint on November 18, 2025. Her campaign received comprehensive documentation on December 13, 2025.

Silence.