Oregon Gambler Sentenced for Stealing from Twice-Poisoned Lobbyist Dad

Posted on: January 21, 2025, 03:23h. 

Last updated on: January 21, 2025, 03:23h.

A Lake Oswego, Ore. man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for stealing almost $400,000 from his father, who was a prominent lobbyist in Oregon until a mysterious poisoning left him in a vegetative state.

Earl Joe Gilliam, poisoning, Oregon, Northwest Grocery Association, son sentenced
Earl Joe Gilliam Jr., above, was twice poisoned in an unsolved attempted murder case. His son has been sentenced to prison for stealing from his seriously ill father. (Image: Joe Gilliam/Willamette Week)

Until 2021, Earl Joe “Joey” Gilliam III was the legal guardian of his father, Earl Joe Gilliam Jr. Last year, Joey Gilliam pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal mistreatment and aggravated theft from his dad.

The elder Gilliam was president of the Northwest Grocery Association for two decades and an influential voice in Oregon politics. But in 2020, someone poisoned him with a toxic metal called thallium. After the victim recovered, they did it again. This time he wasn’t so lucky.

Greatest Fear

Willamette Week reports that before he was poisoned, Earl Joe Gilliam Jr. had been terrified of suffering the same fate as his older brother, late state Rep. Vic Gilliam (R-Silverton), who died of ALS in June 2020. He told family and friends that his greatest fear would be to end up in a vegetative state like his brother.

Since ALS can be hereditary, the elder Gilliam named his only son to be his legal guardian should he ever become incapacitated, with instructions that he not be kept alive artificially in such a situation.

The second poisoning left the elder Gilliam in a quadriplegic state, unable to move, talk or feed himself. Subsequent police investigations into his attempted murder have failed to yield any results.

In the months after, Joey Gilliam used his father’s money as his own piggy bank, splurging on a Jeep Gladiator, booze, and gambling trips, while his father languished in a care facility in Washington State.

The spending continued until an investigation spurred by the care facility resulted in the younger Gilliam’s guardianship of his father being revoked by court order.

‘No Right to Advance’

At sentencing, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Jones acknowledged that Joey Gilliam would probably have inherited the money eventually, but he had no right to “an advance.”

That money could have been available for the father’s medical care,” Judge Jones said, as reported by The Oregonian. “The defendant doesn’t deserve a probation sentence.”

Joey Gilliam’s half-sister, Olivia Gilliam, spoke directly to the defendant at the sentencing hearing.

“He became the guardian for someone respected, successful, powerful and stable — qualities my brother could never possess,” she said. “It is unsettling that I share blood with someone as despicable as you.”