Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Dr. William Gray, who lost his medical license following allegations that he had sexually exploited teen-age patients at his Smith Mountain Lake home, wants to regain the right to practice psychiatry in Virginia and has been trying to earn medical privileges in the Pacific Islands.
Gray, who still holds a medical license in California, has tried to set up practice on at least two islands in the Pacific, most recently in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific. His current whereabouts are unknown. Even his lawyers must call his wife when they want to contact him.
Emily Gray, who still lives at the couple's Hunting Hills home, could not be reached for comment. The house, along with Gray's Old Southwest office building, has been put up for sale. But neighbors and Gray's attorney say she continues to live there and has an unlisted number.
Neighbors last saw Gray knocking on the front door of his home last month.
Wherever he is, Gray continues to maintain legal, business and personal ties to Virginia.
According to documents filed in Albemarle County Circuit Court, Gray has appealed the Virginia Board of Medicine's decision to revoke his license. The board took his license in November, following an 18-month investigation into charges that he had traded drugs, housing, food and money for sex with five boys - four of them his patients.
Two have since filed malpractice suits against Gray in Roanoke; the lawsuits are scheduled to be tried in January. Some of the other boys recanted their stories last year. Gray has insisted that the accusations are part of a conspiracy hatched by a group of boys from dysfunctional families. During last year's gubernatorial campaign, he expanded the conspiracy theory to include former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, who lost her bid for governor.
The Board of Medicine filed a motion to dismiss Gray's appeal in February but has heard nothing since from Gray or his Alexandria attorney, John Grad. Assistant Attorney General Lynne Fleming said she asked Grad, who filed the appeal for Gray, to contact her to set up a briefing schedule and dates for oral arguments.
Grad would not comment on why he had not contacted the board or on whether he intended to move forward with the appeal. Both Grad and Richmond lawyer William Bayliss, who represents Gray on the malpractice suits, listed Charlottesville-area addresses for Gray on the legal documents they filed this year.
Grad listed an Albemarle County address, where Gray owns two pieces of adjacent property. One building houses several shops, the other a Brazilian restaurant. Grad said Gray lived there when the appeal was filed in January.
In a motion filed in March to transfer the malpractice suits to Charlottesville, Bayliss wrote that Gray lived in an apartment in Charlottesville and spent "much of his time" there.
Asked about that statement, Bayliss laughed and said, "You don't believe everything you read, do you?"
"I know he's not in Virginia now," Bayliss said. "He's working. And to tell you the truth, he calls me and I don't call him. ... I get a call about once a month. When I need to talk to him, I call his wife."
Grad said he, too, must contact Gray through his wife.
"I know sort of where he is, but I don't know exactly where he is," he said.
Pressed about what kind of work Gray was doing, Bayliss said he didn't know. "I really shouldn't comment," he said.
Gray has tried at least twice to set up practice in the Pacific Islands.
In October, before Virginia revoked his license, Gray applied for a medical license in Saipan, a small island in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, near Guam. A spokeswoman for that island's licensing agency said officials there learned of Gray's troubles in Virginia and planned to discuss the matter. Gray left the island before they reached a decision, she said.
The spokeswoman said Gray's last known address was the Republic of Palau.
The Virginia Board of Medicine received a request in February from the Ministry of Health in Palau for information regarding the status of Gray's license. The Board faxed to Palau copies of its order revoking his license, a spokeswoman said.
Masao Ueda, the Minister of Health in Palau, said Gray applied for a job at the Palau Memorial Hospital but was turned down.
The Virginia Board also received requests for information about Gray from the licensing boards in California and North Carolina, where Gray previously held licenses, spokesman Wayne Farrar said.
The Board of Medical Examiners in North Carolina suspended Gray's license in 1992. California's licensing board still lists Gray's license as valid.
Jana Tuton, supervising deputy attorney general in Sacramento, said California is waiting for Virginia to conclude its case before it takes action. Her office brought an accusation against Gray in April 1993 but has yet to hold a hearing.
In the meantime, Gray was allowed to renew his license in California. But, Tuton said, she has a letter from Gray's attorney promising he won't practice there "until there's a final ruling in Virginia."
Fifteen years ago, Gray gave up a practice in San Diego after he was charged with child molestation. He agreed to stop practicing in California for three years, then moved his practice to Virginia.
In 1992, he was charged with sexually molesting a 16-year-old boy in Roanoke County. That charge was dismissed but resulted in a suspension of Gray's medical license.
Last year, Gray escaped prosecution in Franklin County on charges of forcible sodomy and sex abuse by agreeing to give up his right to practice in Virginia. He then sued the Board of Medicine for continuing its efforts to revoke his license.
Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed information to this story.
by CNB