‘I stabbed a pedophile’: Portland man sentenced to 5 years after stabbing man he says sent him child sexual abuse material

A Portland man stabbed another man, whom he met on a dating site last summer, because he had sent him child sexual abuse material.

Elijah Cruz Valenzuela, 19, told police that he had initially intended to beat up Joshua Field, 46 — the man who sent Valenzuela the child abuse materials — but instead, Valenzuela suddenly grabbed a knife in Field’s apartment and stabbed him in the chest, according to police reports obtained by The Seattle Times.

Valenzuela ultimately called 911 from the building’s lobby and stated what he had done.

“I stabbed a pedophile,” Valenzuela is heard saying, according to body-cam footage of his arrest.

Valenzuela was sentenced to five years in prison for the stabbing, while Field, who survived, faces a charge of possessing videos of child sexual abuse in a separate case in California. Field has pleaded not guilty.

Field has lived in Oregon, but is currently licensed to practice law in California and has past criminal defense work in Washington listed on his LinkedIn profile. Field has not been charged with possession of child sexual abuse material or any other crimes in Oregon, according to The Seattle Times.

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has said there is an open investigation into Valenzuela’s claim that Field possessed child sexual abuse material in Portland and has asked the public to contact child abuse detectives with any information at crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and reference case number 25-218504.

Police had investigated Field twice before on similar accusations

Police have previously investigated Field twice after claims from two other men that they met him on the Grindr dating app, and he took them back to his apartment to show them child sexual abuse material in 2021, according to PPB records obtained by The Oregonian. One of those men was from Portland and the other from San Francisco.

After the second man contacted PPB, Detective Jonathan Richardson wrote that he was closing the investigation because police were struggling to gather evidence.

“While documented accounts of Field’s behavior are extremely concerning, I have been unable to make contact with witnesses in prior police reports, am not aware of any victims, and Field refuses to be interviewed,” Richardson wrote.

The Oregonian asked Field in an email whether he wanted to comment on the accusations against him, which was answered by his criminal defense attorney Stuart Kirchick, urging The Oregonian not to publish Field’s name because he is a “victim of a very violent assault.”

In another email, Kirchick explained that his client denied the allegations made by Valenzuela, “a convicted felon,” that Field possessed or sent Valenzuela child sexual abuse material.

In July, Valenzuela pleaded no contest to attempted first-degree assault, along with the first-degree burglary charge for entering Field’s apartment with the intent to assault him.

During an August sentencing hearing, Valenzuela’s public defender, Josh McCain, said his client was the victim of childhood sexual abuse.

“Mr. Valenzuela was diagnosed with Bipolar II [disorder], had not taken his medication at the time of the incident and, based upon some of the traumatic events of his life, being sexually abused, he was triggered in that moment to act as he had,” McCain told the judge, according to The Seattle Times.

Now 20, Valenzuela has no previous criminal history and told the judge that he’d fled his family home, which is in another state.

“I was at my worst and ended up completely unmedicated, which put me in the worst manic and psychotic episode I’d ever experienced in my life,” Valenzuela said. “I was isolated, unwell, and I’d been triggered. A chord had been struck so deep, and I snapped.

“But even in this unwell state, I knew I needed help,” Valenzuela added. “I called for help, and I believe I did the right thing and turned myself in.”

Prosecutor called the stabbing ‘vigilante justice’ that ‘cannot be tolerated’

Prosecutor Sam Wilton told the judge that the court system shouldn’t condone people taking matters into their own hands, calling it intolerable vigilante justice.

“In that moment, he made himself both the judge and the jury,” Wilton said. “We can’t be a society where someone convicts another person of a crime in their mind and then gets to punish that person in the way that they deem appropriate. That’s, of course, vigilante justice. That cannot be tolerated.”

Field didn’t attend the sentencing hearing last month, though many of the details of Valenzuela’s crimes didn’t surface in court.

The Oregonian obtained police reports through a public records request last week regarding the past accusations the two other men made about Field allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material in 2021.

The Oregonian also obtained PPB reports into Valenzuela’s stabbing of Field and police body-worn-camera video. On August 12, 2025, Field came to the door in a bloody shirt but wouldn’t allow police to enter his apartment. Field “exited” his apartment “and quickly closed the door behind him,” one officer wrote in the report.

Police ultimately obtained a search warrant at 3:49 a.m., allowing them to enter the unit and process the crime scene.

Seven hours earlier, Valenzuela called 911 stating that he was on the way to beat up Field because he believed he was a pedophile, according to police reports and call logs.

Valenzuela later explained the details to police, such as how he met Field on the dating app Sniffies and received messages from Field that contained child sexual abuse material, and that Valenzuela believed those messages were deleted after they were intercepted by Sniffies.

Valenzuela told police that Field invited him into his apartment just outside downtown Portland to watch videos, and that Field was “inquiring if Valenzuela was ‘pervy,’ and if he was interested in younger guys,” according to police reports obtained by The Seattle Times.

Shortly after Valenzuela arrived, Fields and Valenzuela made calls to 911, with Fields stating that he had been stabbed, while Valenzuela asked officers to come get him in the apartment building’s lobby.

Judge left the door open for a shorter sentence

Once officers arrived, Valenzuela gave an officer Field’s unit number and dropped to his knees, allowing police to handcuff him.

Prosecutors charged Valenzuela with attempted first-degree murder along with five other crimes, all of which could result in a minimum of 7.5 years in prison.

Field wasn’t charged with any crimes until prosecutors in Santa Cruz County, California, accused him of possessing videos showing child sexual abuse in May. Field was also charged with public intoxication.

Despite Valenzuela’s request to avoid prison time, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Christopher Marshall said he has to serve some. The judge left open the possibility that the five-year sentence he gave could shrink to a little more than three years with good time and participation in an alternative incarceration program.

Valenzuela said that ever since the stabbing, he has “religiously” been taking his medications and attending therapy to heal from his past.

“I cannot see a world where I am ever in this situation again,” he said.

Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest