Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse.
A former Oregon correctional officer who pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sexual misconduct was sentenced Friday in Washington County Circuit Court.
Levi David Gray received a 20 month prison sentence followed by three years of post-prison supervision.
According to the criminal indictment, while working as a corrections officer at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Gray engaged “in oral sexual intercourse” with an incarcerated woman. She’s identified in court records by prosecutors as J.B., and has a diagnosed psychiatric disability.
In addition to the criminal case, Gray faces at least three civil lawsuits over allegations of sexually abusing women at Coffee Creek between 2017 and 2023. One was filed by J.B. The other two are identified in court documents as M.F. and “June Doe.”
FILE - Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Ore., Oct. 19, 2022. The facility has minimum- and medium-security housing units for all female adults in custody in the state.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The civil cases alleged Gray was previously investigated after he allegedly left a hickey on an inmate’s neck, showed coworkers pornographic images of his girlfriend and allegedly harassed a female staff member who complained about “Gray’s inappropriate workplace behavior.”
Gray’s attorney didn’t return a request for comment.
The Oregon Department of Justice has defended him in some of these cases. A spokesperson said the agency is obligated to defend Gray in civil cases that stem from his work at the Department of Corrections, unless an investigation found he “engaged in any malfeasance” in those cases.
In the Washington County case, the spokesperson said an Oregon State Police “investigation concluded that Mr. Gray had grossly violated his duties, and ODOJ is not defending Mr. Gray in the civil suit associated with those charges.”
According to a civil lawsuit filed by J.B., Gray moved her to a part of a cell with a secure entry, where there wasn’t a camera, so that he could sexually abuse her.
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This occurred over the course of two months, sometimes more than twice per day for 40 minutes or more, according to her lawsuit.
“The abuse included throwing her against a wall and groping her while she was handcuffed, choking her while kissing her, grabbing her through the cuff port and pulling her, pinching and hitting her, grabbing her breasts so hard that it was painful, shoving her into the cell and then yanking her back with the leash on her handcuffs, and requiring her to perform oral sex,” J.B.’s attorney Lynn Walsh wrote in an amended complaint filed days after Gray pleaded guilty in the criminal case.
Gray was fired by the Oregon Department of Corrections in July 2024. The Department of Public Safety, Standards and Training, the state agency that certifies public safety officers, revoked his ability to work as a correctional officer in April.
Correctional officers are not allowed to engage in sexual acts with people who are incarcerated under any circumstances, under Oregon law.
“The facts of this case have shocked our team from the very beginning,” Dave Boyer, managing attorney of Disability Rights Oregon’s Mental Health Rights Project, said. The group is representing J.B. as victim advocates in the criminal case.
“People in positions of authority should protect the rights of individuals in their care, and the trained officer in this case did the opposite,” he said. “We urge the Oregon Department of Corrections to provide more humane conditions and proper healthcare for the citizens in their custody.”
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Gray was hired in 2010 and became a correctional officer at Coffee Creek in 2012, rising to the rank of Sergeant.
Before moving to Oregon, Gray worked at prisons in Washington state and Utah, according to state records. From 2005 to 2008, Gray worked as a bouncer and said he was later promoted to help manage the Viewpoint Restaurant and Lounge, which at the time was a strip club in Northeast Portland, according to a complaint filed with the Bureau of Labor and Industries.
J.B.‘s attorney Walsh, who declined to comment, noted in the lawsuit that Gray’s work at that strip club should’ve disqualified him for employment as a correctional officer.
“By his own admissions in a lawsuit he filed in April 2010, the club overserved intoxicated patrons and dancers, and served alcohol to underaged patrons; illegal drugs were sold at the club; one employee sexually assaulted other employees or had them perform sex acts for cash payments,” Walsh wrote in J.B.’s lawsuit.
This story has been updated.