Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
GRAY FORFEITS LICENSE TO ESCAPE SEX CASE
Dr. William Gray has agreed to quit medicine forever in Virginia in exchange for the dropping of charges that he misused his Roanoke child psychiatry practice to force sex on five young men.The deal, which allows Gray, 51, to avoid a criminal conviction and a possible life sentence, was worked out late Wednesday with Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood.
"I didn't cave in," Hapgood said Thursday, when the deal was made public. "This is a very unusual case. The No. 1 priority was he had to lose his license."
Gray stood to lose his license anyway as a result of pending hearings before the State Board of Medicine. The board suspended Gray's license nearly a year ago after he was charged with sexually molesting a boy in Roanoke County. That charge later was thrown out, but Gray's license has remained suspended because of numerous other allegations of sexual misconduct with patients.
This is the second time Gray has escaped sexual molestation prosecution by agreeing to stop practicing medicine. The last time was in 1978 in San Diego, Calif. In that case he agreed to quit medicine for three years after authorities agreed not to prosecute him on charges of molesting a 16-year-old patient.
He later moved his practice to Roanoke.
Gray consistently has denied sexual molestation allegations in the Roanoke area, saying he was being set up by a group of vindictive, mentally unstable young men who had turned against him. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In hearings last year before the Board of Medicine, several of the young men gave sordid tales in which they claimed Gray used his position as a psychiatrist to ply them for sex in exchange for drugs, money and fast cars. Some of the troubled young men said they spent much of their adolescent lives as Gray's drugged-out sex toys.
The Board of Medicine then delayed its hearings on whether to revoke Gray's license until after Gray was tried on the Franklin County charges. The board said it was concerned the hearing might affect the trial.
The trial was set for Jan. 25 and was to be moved to Pittsylvania County because of extensive news coverage in Roanoke.
Wayne Farrar, a spokesman for the board, said Tuesday that it will have to review the deal Gray made with Hapgood before deciding whether to continue its hearings.
"It's not automatic that the board will accept" the surrendered license unless the terms are acceptable to the board, he said.
Farrar said he suspects the board will want to insure that "it would be a permanent surrender" under which Gray can't ask for it back later.
There also is no guarantee that Gray will not simply move to another state and attempt to open a practice there. However, because of improved reporting procedures among the states, most state medical boards automatically would know what happened in Virginia.
Hapgood said he decided to drop the criminal charges because there was no certaintly that the Board of Medicine would permanently revoke his license. Under the agreement he made, Hapgood said, the surrender is "now and for all dates in the future."
"That's about as in perpetuity as I knew how to do," Hapgood said.
He said he also made the deal because the trial would not have been simple, in part because of credibility problems with many of the complaining witnesses.
Charles Phillips, one of Gray's attorneys, said Gray is "a little distressed" by the agreement because he maintains his innocence and did not want to quit child psychiatry.
"It's not very easy to give up your professional life," Phillips said.
Pat Doherty, Gray's other attorney, said that despite credibility problems with many of the complaining witnesses, Gray reluctantly agreed to give up his license because of the risk that he might be convicted and sent to prison.
Under the agreement, Gray admitted no wrongdoing. He agreed only that Franklin County authorities had probable cause to attempt prosecution.
The agreement also provides that authorities in Franklin County and Roanoke will not prosecute Gray on any charges prior to the agreement based on complaints by any of the five young men involved in the Franklin County case. Authorities in Roanoke County would not sign the agreement, but said they do not anticipate any charges.
Franklin County sheriff's investigator Bonnie Beatty, who spent months putting together the case against Gray, said she'd have liked to see Gray convicted. But, she said, she is glad he had to give up his medical license. She said the five young men who accused Gray are relieved it's over and "want to go on with their lives."