Gary Hewitt, Bend’s St. Vincent de Paul executive director, at the small homeless village, which is under construction in Bend.

St. Vincent de Paul’s interim executive director says the Bend nonprofit, which provides transitional housing, food and other resources to those in need in Central Oregon, was aware of the former executive director’s history of drug addiction and sex crimes before his arrest last week for allegedly possessing methamphetamine, but “felt that he was not a danger to anyone” at the organization.

Gary Lee Hewitt, 58, was charged Friday, Aug. 16, in Deschutes County Circuit Court with possession and unlawful delivery of methamphetamine. Police said they had been investigating Hewitt for some time before the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office street crimes unit went to Hewitt’s southwest Redmond home with a warrant on Thursday. There, they discovered a “commercial quantity of methamphetamine,” as well as materials for distribution. Hewitt was arrested.

Patty Christopher, who was St. Vincent de Paul’s board president before she took over following Hewitt’s arrest, said the board was shocked by the revelation, believing Hewitt to be fully reformed. Hewitt had been with the organization for nine years and advanced his way up through the nonprofit before applying to the executive director position in 2021.

“He was really up front about his background,” Christopher said. “I wasn’t a part of that original decision, but the people that were felt he had really turned his life around since leaving prison … He had been such a stellar employee for us at the time when we had to hire an executive director, we felt he was the right person for the job without question.”

Hewitt underwent a background check when he was interviewed for the executive director position, Christopher said, but his convictions did not show up because they happened so long ago. Most background checks evaluate a period between three to 10 years. Hewitt was convicted of two counts of  encouraging child sexual abuse in 2011.

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Earlier this year, Hewitt was cited for failing to register as a sexual offender. At the time of his arrest for alleged possession of methamphetamines, Hewitt was on a conditional release related to that citation. Prosecutors have since filed a motion to revoke that release in light of the new drug charges.

Christopher said there is no evidence Hewitt was selling drugs to clients, nor any indication of wrongdoing in the nonprofit’s finances. The organization offers a variety of supportive services, including transitional housing, food assistance and propane vouchers, and receives large sums in grant money and donations. Tax documents from 2022 show the organization has approximately $1.5 million in assets.

“We have a very involved bookkeeper who (made) sure that there was no malfeasance or anything on those lines. I just want to make sure that our clients were safe, and in checking around and doing some due diligence, I feel that’s not the case,” Christopher told The Bulletin.

The news has been hard on the staff, she added, “because really, we are about giving second chances here. That’s sort of what we’re all about.” Still, she said she would be more cautious in the future about hiring someone with a criminal background for that kind of leadership position. What has helped is the strong support St. Vincent de Paul still has from the community, she said.

“Everyone is just really sticking by us and very happy to be here. We’re very lucky in that way. I guess we had some goodwill within the community so we’re just very grateful for that,” Christopher said.