Portland man sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison in Lewis assault and kidnap
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., Feb. 20, 2026 — Wasco County Circuit Court Judge Janet Stauffer sentenced a Portland man convicted at trial of the home-invasion robbery, beating and kidnap of Donald “Donny” Lewis in 2021 to nearly two decades in prison.
Jason McCollum, 50, stood as Stauffer handed down a the time of 19 years and 7 months after District Attorney Kara Davis argued the man “had a lack of remorse” and deserved a longer sentence, requesting consecutive sentences for first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.
Judge Stauffer, Wasco County DA Kara Davis, Special Prosecutor Matt Ellis and Sgt. Austin Ell listen as a jail phone call between Jason McCollum and a friend is played in the courtroom.
Davis played phone and video calls taken from NORCOR jail this week where McCollum spoke with friends. In the phone calls, McCollum could be heard in a nostalgic conversation about a past crime where one man wad killed and another was hit in the head with the claw side of a hammer.
As the call was played, McCollum clenched his right hand, held it with his left and rested his chin on them, his eyes slowly blinking.
A video call showing Jason McCullom and a friend talking about gambling and drinking at a Chinese restaurant in downtown The Dalles.
The video phone call between McCollum captured him stating that he frequented a Chinese restaurant and bar in downtown The Dalles while on release during his recent trial, spending hundreds of dollars on drinks and gambling with family.
Davis argued that McCollum felt no remorse while his victim, who was bound with zip ties during his beating, still struggles daily from the beating he took during the robbery. McCollum also showed disregard for the law by entering a bar when he was prohibited from doing so in his post-prison supervision from other crimes.
She also pointed out that home invasion robberies are rare, and the Portland men who perpetrated the crime targeted Lewis specifically due to him being elderly.
“This was an extremely horrific crime in our community,” she said, then requested a 230 month sentence.
His defense attorney, Per Olsen, said the calls were a display of old friends who came from a life of drug addiction and crime but were also on their way to recovery and were being supportive of each other as they worked to better their lives.
McCollum and his defense attorney Per Olsen review documents during the sentencing.
Olsen pointed out that McCollum had graduated drug treatment in 2016, he had recently been moved to a halfway house, found a job, got his driver’s license and intended to get his commercial driver’s license.
“He’s caught between two worlds,” Olsen said. He asked the judge to give McCollum consecutive sentences and access to drug treatment, education and work programs, which would have kept his prison time to a decade.
Last month Olsen said that he planned to appeal the case as McCollum maintained his innocence at trial, even though his associate Christopher Allan Jaha fingered him at trial.
Stauffer, as was evidenced by her later comments, did not buy it.
Lewis, who still suffers from loose teeth and a floating bone that blurs his vision due to the beating to his face the night of the robbery, chose not to give a victim impact statement.
But his friend David Wilson, an imposing taller man with a long beard, did.
“I saw Donny right after the incident. We didn’t know if he was going to live.”
Wilson said he had known Lewis 35 years and met with him regularly at Mama Jane’s in The Dalles.
“I’ve seen him change. It’s hard for him to express himself. It’s impacted all of his friends.”
Wilson then pointed at McCollum with a finger and said:
“Everyone in this town would like to have 5 minutes with him. Anybody that would kick an old man in the head is a sick son of a… I would like to take care of him.”
Judge Stauffer in her sentencing told McCollum that he had left Lewis “for dead.” She then said she had decided to run consecutive sentences, stating that they had committed a second separate crime when they left Lewis in his home alone, bleeding and bound, with no one aware of his condition.
“It could have been days before he was discovered,” she said, later adding that McCollum was aware of Lewis’s age, an aggravating factor that opened the door to additional time behind bars.
“I did read the letters from family and the report on sobriety,” she said. “But I doubt that after reviewing the video and jail calls.”
She then had McCollum stand in front of the 22 people in the courtroom and gave the scruffy man dressed in orange NORCOR scrubs 235 months in prison with no chance of early release and or access to programs.
She also ordered him to pay restitution of $150, 436 — $150,000 in money stolen from Lewis and $436 for medical bills and repayment to the victim’s compensation fund.
Stauffer left the courtroom and Wasco County Sheriff’s deputies moved near the jury box where McCollum laid his hands on the rail, surrendering.
Manacles were secured to his ankles and wrists as Lewis and his supporters, McCollum’s family, and The Dalles Police Chief Tom Worthy watched in silence while deputies led him from the courtroom to jail.
Read CCNews’ story on opening statements here.
