A Vancouver man, who was sentenced Friday to 11 months in prison for rape, was back in Clark County Superior Court today on suspicion of stealing from his 70-year-old grandmother in April, while his rape case was pending trial.
Cory J. Dornbirer, 23, faces charges of two counts of forgery and one count of second-degree theft at his arraignment Sept. 6. Judge Daniel Stahnke appointed Vancouver attorney Tonya Rulli to defend him on the new charges.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in court, Dornbirer stole a bundle of checks from his grandmother, Beverly Gregory, on April 22. He attempted to cash two of the checks in the amounts of $100 and $200 at a bank without Gregory’s knowledge, the affidavit states. He allegedly also stole her laptop computer valued at $600, jewelry worth $500 and miscellaneous cash equaling $50.
Witness Robin Campbell said she confronted Dornbirer about stealing from his grandmother, and he returned the computer to Gregory a few days later, according to the affidavit.
He allegedly told Campbell that he took the checks because he didn’t think “they would find out about them,” the affidavit states. The court document didn’t reveal how Campbell knows Gregory and Dornbirer.
A Clark County jury convicted Dornbirer July 19 of raping a friend after a night of drinking in May 2011.
The conviction came just one year after a jury in Coos County, Ore., acquitted him of a similar crime against a fellow college student in October 2011 at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay.
The Clark County jury also struggled with reaching a verdict in the case of the friend. They convicted Dornbirer of third-degree rape, a lesser charge than the second-degree rape and indecent liberties charges the prosecutor had sought. Had he been convicted of second-degree rape, he would have faced up to 72 months in prison, as opposed to his 11-month sentence.
At his sentencing hearing Friday, Deputy Senior Prosecutor Camara Banfield mentioned that Dornbirer allegedly stole from his grandmother while the rape case was pending and said the behavior showed a pattern of violating the law.
