Former pastor Donald Biggs could make his way back to Southern Oregon; hearing is planned Friday on conditions of release

Victims of convicted sex offender Donald Courtney Biggs, a former MTN Church pastor sentenced in 2018 to more than 188 months in federal prison for secretly recording minor church members in various stages of undress, fear he could soon return to Southern Oregon.

Former victims and family members of victims of Biggs were recently informed through the U.S. Department of Justice Victim Notification Program that a telephone hearing to establish conditions of Biggs’ release is set for 1 p.m. Friday in Eugene. 

The local residents said they believed Biggs would remain in federal prison through September 2030. Changes to sentencing guidelines, however, reduced his prison sentence by three years — with release set for 2027 — and Biggs was moved from a federal prison in Minnesota in December and is now being housed in a residential treatment facility.

Medford resident Kevin Smith, father of two of Biggs’ victims, said he understood Friday’s hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai was called to determine if Biggs should be permitted to move between facilities and return to Southern Oregon.

Smith said a victims’ advocate told him Thursday that Biggs’ return to the area was “already a foregone conclusion.”

“They don’t know if it’ll be home release or to the justice center,” Smith told the Rogue Valley Times on Thursday.

“The victim advocate said, in her 18 years of doing this, this is the second time she can remember a hearing to determine conditions of release instead of deciding if the person will be released. It’s evidently a done deal.”

Smith, who made headlines during Biggs’ sentencing in 2018 when he was tackled by federal marshals after punching Biggs in the face in U.S. District Court in Medford, said it “traumatizes the victims over and over, every time they get notified” of a change in Biggs’ status.

Biggs, 46, was first arrested in 2015 on multiple counts of child pornography and allegations that during his time as youth pastor at the Medford church he videoed dozens of young girls during church events and on trips. 

Biggs pleaded guilty in 2018 to a single felony count of transporting with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and he was sentenced to 15 years at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minn.

As part of a plea deal, he was not sentenced for an additional nine counts of transportation or additional child pornography charges.

In 2020, Biggs petitioned the courts for “compassionate release,” due to the pandemic, but later withdrew the request. An online petition by victims of Biggs, urging that he remain in prison, garnered nearly 5,000 signatures.

In October 2024, he petitioned the U.S. District Court for release from prison, alleging the Federal Bureau of Prisons was “holding him improperly” past his anticipated April 2024 transfer to prerelease custody.

Medford police Sgt. Brent Mak, who investigated the case against Biggs as a detective, said he helped advocate for victims last year when Biggs was moved from prison to a residential facility.

Originally, Biggs wanted to be placed in Southern Oregon but was ultimately moved to a facility near Portland, Mak said.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Biggs is currently under the supervision of a Residential Reentry Management field office in Seattle.

“There are a lot of victims in this case, and they feel very strongly. … The families were all told it would be a minimum 15-year prison sentence,” Mak said. “Since that time, they’ve changed the guidelines, and we have no control over that. … When this initially broke in December, the families were very upset because they were told by the federal judge that he was going to do the time.”

Aside from victims fearing they would run into Biggs if he returns to the area, Mak said victims and their families “who are still obviously traumatized about this” worry about a lack of sex offender treatment in the region.

Katie Foy, a victim in the case, said Biggs had repeatedly tried to lighten his sentence.

“It has been a pattern throughout the whole time he was sentenced. During COVID, he tried to shorten his case, and everyone that was affected got emails from the Department of Justice,” she said in an interview with the Times.

“He just keeps asking for all this consideration and to have a shorter duration. … Every time we have to think about it again, there is just a ripple effect on all of us who were affected by his actions.”

Foy added, “He said on the stand that he wouldn’t come back here. I don’t know if the judge made him say it, or he said it on his own, but we have a family here now and there was a whole church community that has been rattled by this, so the prospect of his return … feels kind of like a slap in the face.”

Calls by Times to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Oregon were not returned. Smith said he would attend the Friday hearing via phone and continue to fight Biggs’ return to the “community where he victimized so many women and girls.”

“I’m just in shock right now. My initial thought is, if he ends up coming down here, I’ve got a new mission in life to plaster this dude’s face everywhere I can,” Smith said.

“We’ve all just had so many different levels of anger and frustration along every step of this flipping case. … You get the sense that the justice system doesn’t really care what the victims’ needs or concerns are. They’re just going to do their thing, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or bpollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.