A federal judge ruled the state of Oregon failed to preserve video evidence in a case involving a correctional officer who pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct against an incarcerated woman at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

The woman, who is only identified by her initials, J.B., reported to staff at Coffee Creek in May of 2023 that Gray had been sexually assaulting her for two months.

In May of 2025, Levi David Gray was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to two felony counts of sexual misconduct.

In addition to the criminal case where Gray was charged, at least three women have filed civil lawsuits against him, including J.B. This latest ruling is part of her civil suit.

Investigators requested security camera footage dating back two months from J.B.’s report, according to court documents, but the videos were never handed over.

“Video evidence of the dates and times when Gray escorted her to her cell and when he spent long periods of time inside or outside her cell could have corroborated her story that he was sexually abusing her by matching up with the dates and times that she asserts he had access,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke wrote this week.

Despite requests to see and preserve the video by investigators, it was seemingly destroyed.

“This is a big deal,” said Dave Boyer, with Disability Rights Oregon, who is representing J.B. “It provides us with the ability to argue there was a conspiracy of sorts by the Department of Corrections to keep this evidence that is important to proving our case.”

Officials from the Oregon Department of Justice and Oregon Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The judge ruled that, if the case goes to trial, J.B. and her attorneys could tell a jury to assume the video evidence would support her case.

“By destroying that video, the state made their position crystal clear: they will protect their own at any cost including doing whatever it takes to silence one 19-year-old girl,” J.B. wrote in an email to OPB. “But they failed to silence me. I’m still here, and I’m telling my story because no woman locked in that place should have to go through the fear, abuse, retaliation, and know that there is no help for them behind those gates.”

The Oregon Department of Corrections fired Gray in July 2024. He had worked for the state since 2010 and became a correctional officer at Coffee Creek in 2012, rising to the rank of Sergeant.

Correctional officers are not allowed to engage in sexual acts with people who are incarcerated under any circumstances, under Oregon law.

The state recently agreed to pay another one of Gray’s victims $225,000 in a federal civil rights lawsuit, as first reported by The Oregonian/Oregonlive.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/13/oregon-prison-sexual-assault-coffee-creek/