Sergeant at state women’s prison arrested sexual misconduct with inmate

Published 5:29 pm Wednesday, August 23, 2023

A corrections sergeant at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility was arrested late Tuesday on charges of sexual misconduct with an inmate.

Sgt. Levi D. Gray, 47, was booked into Washington County jail on two felony counts of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct, a charge levied against defendants employed by the state corrections agency who commit sex acts with the incarcerated people under their oversight.

Gray appeared and pleaded not guilty to all of his charges on Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court.

The case against a prison employee comes less than a week after the release of a state-commissioned report about harsh conditions at Coffee Creek, Oregon’s only women’s prison. Inmates and staff at the prison voiced concerns about retaliation for people who reported sexual misconduct. In response to that report, Gov. Tina Kotek has called for the Wilsonville prison to make immediate changes and convened an advisory panel to make recommendations to improve the safety and quality of life for about 870 incarcerated women.

The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, accuses Gray of committing two separate sex acts with the same female inmate on May 23. Gray also faces two misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, court records show.

Gray’s attorney listed in court records, Michael Levine, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Amber Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Corrections, declined to comment on the case, other than to confirm Gray’s dates of employment and that he was placed on administrative leave on May 24, one day after the alleged actions in the indictment.

Gray’s career with the Oregon Department of Corrections started in 2010, when he became a corrections officer at Mill Creek Correctional Facility, according to his service record with the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, the agency that certifies and disciplines corrections officers and other law enforcement professionals. He also worked at Oregon State Correctional Institution and Columbia River Correctional Institute before resigning in 2011, state records show.

Gray was rehired at the agency in 2012 to work at Coffee Creek as a corrections officer.

In 2013, he was promoted to a sergeant at Coffee Creek, where he has been assigned for the past decade. He earns about $93,800 a year, according to Campbell.

Gray’s case comes just one month after a federal jury convicted a former nurse at Coffee Creek in July of sexually assaulting nine female inmates. Tony Daniel Klein, 38, was convicted of 17 counts of depriving his victims of their constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by sexual assault and four counts of perjury.

His sentencing is scheduled for October.