
A former officer with the Savanna Police Department in Pittsburg County has pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating the civil rights of a woman he sexually assaulted during a traffic stop in January.
Jerry Lynn “Jay” Gragg Jr., 40, entered the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Muskogee.
Gragg accepted a plea deal, the terms of which require him to forfeit his law enforcement certification and comply with federal and state sex offender registration requirements, according to a news release.
A sentencing hearing has not been set.
Court documents state that Gragg, while on duty, stopped a vehicle in the early morning hours of Jan. 21. Gragg then took the driver back to his marked patrol unit and told her to sit in the front passenger seat, the records indicate.
The woman told authorities that Gragg said he would take her to jail unless she could pay the fine in full, but she didn’t have enough money.
The woman told investigators that Gragg then made sexual advances and forced her to perform oral sex.
She later filed a complaint and provided a stained blouse that allegedly matched a DNA sample provided by Gragg, according to reports.
Gragg was fired March 30 for policy and procedure violations.
Authorities said Gragg admitted that his acts included aggravated sexual abuse, which under federal law, requires force or putting the victim in fear of bodily injury, kidnapping or death, according to the news release.
U.S. Magistrate Kimberly E. West accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentencing investigation report.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Henson prosecuted the case.
Gragg originally was arrested on complaints of forcible sodomy, two counts of sexual battery and accepting a bribe.