A former nurse at a women’s prison in Oregon was found guilty by a federal jury of sexually assaulting nine female inmates.
Tony Daniel Klein, 38, of Clackamas County, was convicted of 17 counts of depriving women of their constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by sexual assault, the Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday.
“Tony Klein used his position of authority to prey on women in custody who were in a uniquely vulnerable position,” said Natalie Wight, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. “He further led his victims to believe they had no power to resist or report his abuse.”
Klein was also convicted on four counts of perjury.
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Court documents showed that Klein worked as a nurse at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, from 2010 to January 2018, the DOJ said. During his tenure, Klein interacted regularly with female inmates who needed medical attention or who worked as orderlies in the prison’s medical unit.
During the two-week trial, 17 women testified that Klein touched them inappropriately during medical appointments or as they cleaned the prison infirmary – some of them adding that he forced them to have sex. Other women said they were afraid of disciplinary actions if they refused his advances.
Klein used his “position of power” as a medical provider to regularly “manufacture[d] reasons” to be alone with female inmates in areas like medical rooms, janitor’s closets or behind privacy curtains, the DOJ said.
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According to the DOJ, many of Klein’s victims feared punishment if they fought back against or reported his conduct because he “made it clear” that no one would believe their claims.
“No woman held inside a jail or prison should be subject to sexual assault at the hands of the officials who work there,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Abuses of power and authority, like this, where the defendant took advantage of his position as a medical professional to satisfy his own sexual desires, will not be tolerated, and justice will be pursued.”
Klein, who has denied sexually assaulting anyone, did not testify during the trial. He faces the possibility of life in prison when sentenced in October.
His attorneys, Amanda Alvarez Thibeault and Matthew McHenry, suggested he was the victim of a plot by women in custody to get financial settlements from the state.
After the verdict, they reiterated that they believe he is innocent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
