A convicted pedophile who openly admitted to molesting 50 children and committing over 1,000 acts of indecent exposure could soon be released to reside in Stanislaus County, according to court documents.
Kevin Gray, 72, was convicted of lewd conduct and oral copulation with a 9-year-old girl in 1974. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation at the time. In the next two decades, he was convicted of several more child sex crimes. Gray has admitted that he was never caught for most of his crimes.
In 1993, Gray was convicted of two counts of lewd acts with an 8-year-old girl in Modesto. Gray molested the girl at a local arcade. She immediately informed an adult, but Gray fled. The adult to whom the girl reported the incident spotted Gray a few days later and called the police. This was Gray’s last arrest before incarceration.
Gray was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in jail but was remanded to in-patient custody at a state hospital once his sentence was completed. Gray is currently incarcerated at a state hospital in Coalinga. He was eligible for conditional release in 2020. Since then, he’s undergone several evaluations by doctors at the hospital to determine if he could be released, the most recent in April.
The most recent evaluation determined Gray was still a sexually violent predator and that he “is likely to engage in future predatory sexually violent criminal behavior.” However, that same evaluation determined that it was in “Gray’s best interest to be released” conditionally.
The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office disagrees. While conditional release would be in the best interest to Gray, the office believes it is not in the public’s best interest. The office filed a petition to revoke Gray’s conditional release on Friday, asserting that he was still a threat to public safety.
“We have reviewed Mr. Gray’s evaluations conducted since 2020. Based on the updated information contained in those evaluations and the question surrounding his participation in treatment, I believe if (Kevin) Gray were released into the community, he would reoffend,” stated DA Jeff Laugero. “Gray should remain in the in (the) custody Sexually Violent Predator Program until public safety can be assured.”
The DA’s petition argued that he needed to remain at a state hospital for several reasons, one being his diagnoses. Gray was diagnosed with pedophilia disorder, exhibitionist disorder, arousal by prepubescent children and alcohol-use disorder.
He also had a recent incident while in custody. According to the petition, Gray possessed a flash drive with over 700 deleted images of girls between the ages of 2 and 14 years old posing erotically in their underwear.
“(Gray’s) extensive sexually violent criminal history and his admissions to unreported molestations and indecent exposures, and the lack of any evidence indicating (Gray) has complied with or will comply with the directions of those responsible for his ongoing treatment since the original order of conditional release are not only alarming, these facts provide valuable and new insight into the ongoing public safety risk (Gray) continues to pose, warranting revocation of the previous order of conditional release.”
Whether or not Gray will be released is up in the air. The DA’s Office hopes Gray will remain in a state hospital. However, at Gray’s hearing on the petition on Friday, Judge Carrie Stevens said “there are substantive issues I have concerns with” in regards to the filing.
While housing for Gray is believed to be in Turlock, it has not been set in stone. A lengthy process is needed for Gray to move into a housing unit, which typically includes comments from the public.
Gray is scheduled to appear via video for another hearing on July 1 at the Stanislaus County Superior Courthouse.