Suspect in Y. coed case faces theft charges

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Multnomah County grand jury has indicted a suspect in the disappearance of a 19-year-old college student on unrelated theft and burglary charges.

Soo Koo Kim, 30, was indicted Tuesday on six counts of burglary and three counts of theft. The Tigard man has been charged with stealing thousands of pairs of women's underwear from college dormitories in three Oregon counties and is expected to face charges in a fourth later this week.

Kim has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held in Multnomah County on $10 million bail. He also faces $4 million bail in Yamhill County and $100,000 bail in Benton County.

He's expected to be arraigned in Multnomah County court on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Kim stole women's underwear and other clothing from dormitories at three Portland colleges: Lewis and Clark College, Concordia University and the University of Portland.

Police and prosecutors have named Kim as a suspect in the disappearance of Brigham Young University student Brooke Wilberger, who vanished from a Corvallis apartment complex on May 24.

Kim's attorney, Janet Lee Hoffman, contends that her client was at home with his family on the morning Wilberger disappeared.

In court papers filed last week, Hoffman said Kim was at home with his family that morning, making online stock trades via Ameritrade. He later went shopping with his father at a local Circuit City, she said, adding that Kim's alibi was backed up by his family, records and a surveillance video.

According to an affidavit filed by Portland police two weeks ago, a search of Kim's computer revealed 40,000 pictures of women being tortured and raped, as well as a document that describes the rape, torture and mutilation of a woman.