Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993 TAG: 9310080227
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Dr. William Gray, who faced severe disciplinary action because of alleged sex crimes against young male patients, made the assertions shortly before the board permanently expelled him from the profession. He provided the board no evidence to back up his charges, but carried with him what he claimed were the patient's files.
Gray, 52, told the board he believed his legal and professional troubles were engineered by the attorney general's office because he advised his patient over a period of eight years to break off a relationship with Terry. He said the patient, whom he declined to identify, killed herself in 1990.
Terry, in a dead heat with Republican George Allen in the governor's race, dismissed the charges as ludicrous and vile, and likened Gray's attack to the smear tactics she faced when she prosecuted associates of political extremist Lyndon Larouche.
"It's obviously ridiculous and untrue," Terry said in a statement. "As attorney general, my office prosecuted this doctor for having sex with young boys who were his patients. As a result of my decision to prosecute this doctor, his medical license was revoked. He has now struck against me in the vilest way - even considering the source.
"Unfortunately, this is what women are subject to when they enter politics. It's the price women pay for being leaders," Terry said.
Terry, the Democratic candidate for governor, resigned as attorney general this year to campaign full time.
Even Gray's attorney was taken off-guard by the statements Gray made in a quiet voice at the conclusion of the hearing.
"I was surprised by this and what he said," John Grad of Alexandria said. "He had mentioned he wanted to say a few words and I thought that was appropriate and did not discuss the content. I know of no evidence personally that connects the attorney general's office in any improper way."
Grad believes Gray is innocent, and suggested that his client's charges may have resulted from a feeling that he was railroaded by the board.
Assistant Attorney General Carol Russek, who prosecuted Gray, was incredulous.
"I think this is an example of how, with each day of this hearing, the theory of a conspiracy grew and grew and grew and now to the point Mary Sue Terry is somehow implicated," Russek said. "I think that's an example of how absurd that kind of defense theory is."
But Gray, who said he is under psychiatric care for depression and other problems, insisted this was the first time he had been allowed to address the board. "I have tried to say there is more to this than meets the eye."
The board's decision ends an 18-month inquiry into Gray's personal and professional life, an investigation that turned on the testimony of troubled youths who detailed a sordid saga of intimidation and sex abuse at the hands of the doctor.
Gray's troubles have extended beyond the purview of Virginia medical authorities, however.
Fifteen years ago, he was charged with child molestation in California and agreed to stop practicing in that state for three years. He then moved his practice to Virginia.
In January, Gray avoided prosecution in Franklin County on charges of forcible sodomy and sex abuse by agreeing to voluntarily surrender his medical license in Virginia. The incidents are alleged to have taken place with young men at his Smith Mountain Lake home.
In 1992, he was charged in Roanoke County with molesting a 16-year-old boy, a charge that was later dismissed but still led to the board's suspension of his license.
Gray claimed the medical board no longer had authority over him once he agreed never to practice again in Virginia. The state board pushed for revocation to prevent Gray from practicing in other states.
Thursday's decision hinged on the testimony of the five young men, who told a medical board administrative hearing officer in June 1992 that Gray kept them as virtual sex slaves, enticing them to perform sexual acts in exchange for housing, food, cars and gifts. In a bizarre twist, some of the witnesses have since recanted and continue to associate with Gray.
In a ruling issued in June, the hearing officer, Patrick County Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Giorno, determined that Gray violated standards of medical practice by engaging in sexual activity with four patients that included fondling, mutual masturbation and sodomy. The officer also found that Gray engaged in criminal sexual activity, including sodomy and sexual battery, with a nonpatient.
Gray denied any wrongdoing, contending he was the victim of an extortion scheme by a group of dysfunctional teen-agers he had tried to help.
In his testimony, Gray never raised the issue of Terry's interference in the case.
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said Thursday he had accumulated two boxes of files on Gray, and Terry's name was never mentioned.
"It's preposterous," Hapgood said of Gray's statements on Thursday. "This is the worst kind of slander."
Hapgood said his files include statements from witnesses who had contact with Gray after the investigation had begun.
Hapgood did say that Gray claimed that investigators were conducting a vendetta against him, but no allegations against Terry were mentioned by Gray or the witnesses.
"The statements dealt with homosexual activities involving males," he said.
Thursday's hearing was not the first time that Gray or his attorney had raised questions about authorities' sexual conduct.
At a medical board hearing earlier this year, his lawyer asked Franklin County Investigator Bonnie Beatty if she was having an affair with one of Gray's alleged victims, Beatty said.
The presiding hearing officer found no evidence to support that allegation, Beatty said.
Randy Leach, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke County who prosecuted the sexual battery misdemeanor against Gray last year, said the psychiatrist's claims never surfaced during the investigation.
"Nothing like that ever came up that I was aware of," he said.
The Board of Medicine's decision to revoke Gray's license will be registered with the National Practitioner Data Bank. That bank is not available to the general public, but is a resource for state boards and other health professionals to assess the professional status of physicians and dentists.
Staff writers Ron Brown and Laurence Hammack contributed information for this story.
by CNB