Albany Democrat-Herald | By Cody Mann | November 18, 2024
A civil lawsuit has been filed in federal court against an Albany man and business owner who was recently charged in two criminal cases.
The lawsuit, filed against 46-year-old Joel James Dahl of Dahled Up Construction, alleges assault, battery and negligence involving a 17-year-old who lives out of state.
Last week, Dahl was arraigned in Albany Municipal Court on two counts of harassment and an assault charge, all misdemeanors, related to the civil lawsuit. Court documents regarding the criminal case were requested but not yet released to Mid-Valley Media.
Those charges follow a felony charge of second-degree sexual abuse filed against Dahl on March 11 in Linn County Circuit Court. He was also charged with providing liquor to a person under 21 years of age, which is a violation.
In that case, court documents allege Dahl plied a 17-year-old girl with alcohol before engaging in intercourse with her, apparently in the same weekend as the harassment and assault accusations.
The federal suit was filed by a local mom on behalf of her son on Saturday, April 6, at the District Court in Eugene, according to court records. The complaint calls for a jury trial and asks for a jury to determine economic, noneconomic and punitive damages.
In the lawsuit, Vanessa Rusch alleges on March 9, Dahl punched her teenage son in the face at a house owned by Dahl in the 300 block of Montgomery Street Southeast. Rusch also claims Dahl recklessly chased her son at high speeds through Linn and Benton counties.
Dahl could not be reached for comment. He was taken into custody by the Albany Police Department on a contempt of court charge Tuesday, April 9, according to Linn County Jail records. On Wednesday, Dahl’s bail was set at $50,000.
The details of that arrest were not immediately available, but Albany police Lt. David Vaughn confirmed Dahl was arrested without incident at 12:43 p.m. Tuesday in the 1000 block of First Avenue Southeast, which is where Dahl’s construction business is located.
Interviewed via phone, Rusch said she had to file in federal court because her son now lives in Georgia, where he has been in hiding out of fear of retaliation by Dahl. Rusch is originally from Georgia, has family there and had planned to send her son there to finish the school year.
“But then this incident happened, and I felt it was best for his safety and well-being to not be here in Albany, to not be in any close proximity to the person who assaulted him,” Rusch said.
Rusch said on the day of the incident, her son was preparing to move and wanted to spend some time with his friends at a bonfire on his last weekend in town.
Sometime later, she received a text message from her son asking if there would be time before he leaves for Georgia to press assault charges on a man who had just hit him.
“I honestly thought he was joking with me,” Rusch said. “Then he sends me a picture of his face, which has this huge gash from below his nose all the way down his cheek to his jawbone area.”
The lawsuit, which is fairly sketchy on details, claims he had to seek treatment at an emergency room.
Rusch said according to her son, he and his friends were at the Montgomery Street house outside in the backyard when they heard some sort of commotion in the front. They could hear adult voices arguing or fighting and waited until it calmed down, then went to the front to collect their firewood.
That is when they encountered Dahl, she said, and he began shouting and swearing at them to get off his property. Rusch alleges Dahl attacked the kids as they were trying to leave.
Rusch alleges Dahl grabbed one victim and threw him, punched her son in the face, choked another, threw him as well, and then choked him again. She said one of the boys at the scene tried stopping Dahl and another suggested getting out of there.
“Another adult, who my understanding is that he was at the house, was also involved in trying to stop Joel,” she said. “I don’t know all the details of what went down, but basically that gave them enough space for all the boys to split into two cars.”
One group of boys got away, Rusch said, but Dahl allegedly pursued the others, including her son, in a truck. Rusch alleged Dahl’s teenage daughter was behind the wheel of his vehicle during the chase, which stretched from Montgomery Street through downtown on Highway 20 and across the bridge into North Albany.
“They were being followed the whole time. On the bridge, they would drive exceedingly close to them, flashing lights at one point,” Rusch said.
“I think in downtown, they stopped at a red light, and Joel got out of the vehicle and tried to come at them on foot, but the light changed and the boys drove off,” she alleged.
The parent of a reported victim in the misdemeanor cases relayed an account of similar accusations.
According to Rusch, the boys were on the phone with the police who directed them to go to the police station. She alleged Dahl continued to trail them.
When they neared the station, police officers pulled up, and Dahl and his teenager were allowed to drive away, she alleged.
“They proceeded to pull over and talk with the boys,” Rusch said. “So, they let him go. They had three officers available, and no one followed Joel.”
At some point later that night, prosecutors allege Dahl sexually assaulted the 17-year-old girl.
Having taken extensive time from work to handle the matter, Rusch said it has been an emotionally challenging time for her family. She said her son is recovering, but it is unclear what long-term damage he might have suffered, noting he is currently in therapy to deal with the traumatic experience.
In a previous interview, the father of another teenager who was allegedly attacked by Dahl during the same incident, Esley Moon, accused Dahl of choking his 16-year-old son, punching a minor and pushing two others before getting into the car chase with the victims.
Moon also alleged that during the car chase while at a traffic light, Dahl jumped out of his vehicle and rushed Moon’s son’s car, saying the situation could have gotten worse if his son had not sped off when the light changed.
Dahl was booked on March 10, originally on charges of fourth-degree assault, second- and third-degree sexual assault, physical harassment, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor, and furnishing liquor to a minor, according to jail records. Court records show he was released on $1,500 of a $15,000 bail.
Those charges, minus the third-degree sexual assault and the contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor, were eventually divided into two cases, one in Circuit Court and one in Municipal Court.
Court records also show Dahl has criminal convictions dating back three decades.
Dahled Up Construction is currently being advertised as under new ownership but calls to the company to confirm its status have not been answered.
