78-Year-Old Clackamas County Man Arrested for Sex Abuse

A 78-year-old Sandy man was arrested last week on claims he sexually abused a Sacramento, Calif., girl over a five-year period. The victim was 6 years old when the abuse began, police say.

The joint investigation by the Clackamas and Sacramento county sheriff’s offices began last December, when detectives in California shared they had probable cause to believe William Dowell Arbaugh had traveled to Sacramento several times between 2011 and 2016 to sexually abuse a female juvenile.

Sacramento investigators came to Clackamas County to meet with local detectives, and on Wednesday, Jan. 27, the CCSO served search warrants at Arbaugh’s residences: a home on East Terra Fern Drive and a unit at Sandyplace Apartment Homes on Sandy Heights.

Detectives arrested Arbaugh on a felony fugitive warrant and searched both residences for evidence related to the sex-abuse case, police said.

Arbaugh was transported to the Clackamas County Jail, where he is being held without bail and awaiting extradition to California.

Anyone with additional information on this case is urged to contact the sheriff’s office tip line by phone at 503-723-4949 or by using the online email form at clackamas.us/sheriff/tip. Please reference case no. 21-950312.