Education

College Removes Top Employee For Helping Feds Nab Alum Charged In Anti-ICE Riot

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A Portland, Oregon-based college announced Tuesday that it temporarily removed an employee from his senior role for giving the FBI information on an alumnus charged with violence outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

Reed College is investigating Director of Community Safety Gary Granger after finding out through media coverage that he assisted the FBI in identifying defendant Robert Hoopes, according to a statement from Audrey Bilger, president of the federally-funded school. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused Hoopes of throwing a rock that scarred a federal agent’s face during a June 14 riot outside a Portland ICE building and “using an upended stop sign as a makeshift battering ram” with other rioters, court documents show.

The director “disclosed information about this alumnus to federal law enforcement, apparently without a subpoena or warrant,” Bilger said. “Reed has established protocols and values, and we are initiating an investigation into this action and its impact on our standards and our community. Reed prioritizes the privacy and rights of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all members of our community.”

Granger and Reed College declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation. He has been director of community safety since June 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile, and Bilger said two acting directors are temporarily taking his place. Reed College’s media team did not respond to a request for comment.

The FBI identified Hoopes using facial recognition software, various public records and tattoos on his arm despite him allegedly wearing a gas mask at the June 14 riot, an affidavit shows. Granger provided Hoopes’s full name, Portland address and phone number to the FBI after an agent reached out to him regarding his affiliation with the school.

Hoopes was arrested on Friday and appeared in court Monday to face felony charges of aggravated assault of a federal officer with a dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property in an amount exceeding $1,000, according to the DOJ.

An Oregon-based attorney described in media reports as representing Hoopes did not respond to a request for comment. Hoopes’s father portrayed him to local media as a “lifelong Quaker who is deeply committed to pacifism” in response to the criminal charges.

The DOJ has charged 23 suspects stemming from demonstrations at the Portland ICE building since the Trump administration ramped up deportations of illegal immigrants. Democrat-appointed judges have released Hoopes and another alleged rioter from pretrial detention despite the DOJ’s objections.

“We understand that recent developments may raise concern, and we want to assure you that the college is treating this matter with the seriousness it warrants,” President Bilger said about Granger helping the FBI.

The FBI’s Portland office declined to comment.