Gravelle pleads guilty to groping |
| November 18, 2012 |
|
A Bonners Ferry man pled guilty Thursday to
voyeurism and three counts of fourth-degree
assault in the Benton County Courthouse,
Prosser, Washington, admitting a long-standing
"sexual problem" that led him to drive from here
to Benton County to live it out. That's a 4 1/2-hour trip, one way, of about 250 miles. According to the Tri-City Herald, Jeffrey Paul Gravelle, 41, Bonners Ferry, attended two Hanford High School football games in September, and managed to grope three cheerleaders, reaching under their skirts and grabbing their buttocks. Several people witnessed these and other encounters, and compared notes. He was arrested September 15, after a Hanford cheerleader spotted Gravelle in the stands and told her mother, who called police. School officials identified him as the man seen loitering outside the girls' locker room during a basketball game last February, and several witnesses positively identified him and recounted several additional suspicious incidents, and a video that captured him trying to take pictures of cheerleaders outside that locker room confirmed suspicions. Gravelle was released from the Benton County jail on his own recognizance after Thursday's hearing, pending sentencing tentatively set for December 6, having already served the 60-day sentence recommended by prosecutors. The maximum sentence for the offenses he's pled guilty to is 90 days. While his final sentence is pending, Gravelle has already been told he's not allowed to attend any more high school sporting events in Benton County. |