PULLMAN, Wash. — Warning: This story contains graphic sexual content.
A Pullman Police sergeant accused of custodial sexual misconduct pleaded not guilty in court on Friday.
Sgt. Jerry Daniel Hargraves, 49, was arrested and charged with first-degree custodial sexual misconduct on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Authorities said his arrest was the result of an investigation that began in April when a female Washington State University student reported she was sexually assaulted.
Hargraves' trial is expected to start Jan. 14, 2019.
Hargraves has been on paid administrative leave or desk duty since the initial report.
According to the Washington State Legislature, a person is guilty of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct when the person has sexual intercourse with another person when:
1) The victim is a resident of a state, county, or city adult or juvenile correctional facility, including but not limited to jails, prisons, detention centers, or work release facilities, or is under correctional supervision; and
2) The perpetrator is an employee or contract personnel of a correctional agency and the perpetrator has, or the victim reasonably believes the perpetrator has, the ability to influence the terms, conditions, length, or fact of incarceration or correctional supervision; or
3) When the victim is being detained, under arrest[,] or in the custody of a law enforcement officer and the perpetrator is a law enforcement officer.
Consent of the victim is not a defense to a prosecution under this section and custodial sexual misconduct is a first degree class C felony, according to the state legislature.
These allegations are related to a previous KREM report from April. Washington State Patrol began investigating allegations that a Pullman Police officer and Washington State University officer sexual assaulted a student while she was intoxicated in March.
Court documents said the student was contacted three different times about underage drinking on March 30. Investigating documents stated that the victim was "staggering and appeared intoxicated."
Hargraves and another officer both contacted the victim and told her to stay in her dorm room for the rest of the night, according to investigating documents.
The second time Hargraves contacted the victim he told her, "You disobeyed me. I told you to not leave your dorm before. Now, I have to take you to the station because you didn't obey my orders," according to investigative documents.
Documents said the victim told Hargraves, "I'll do anything to not get arrested." He replied with, "What are you willing to do?," according to court documents.
According to court documents, the victim told investigators that Hargraves later "instructed her to get out (of the car) and get down on her knees" and she "remembered hearing him undo his pants."
She said she had a "vague recollection of performing oral sex on Hargraves" and she later wiped her face with her sleeve when they were done, court documents said.
On April 5, the victim called the Office for Equal Opportunities to report the incident, according to court documents.
Internal documents from the Pullman Police Department show Hargraves was also given supervisory counseling for a sexual harassment claim made by a coworker in 2016.
In May 2016, supervisors started investigating sexual harassment allegations made against Hargraves after another police officer reported them to a sergeant. The sergeant then asked the woman involved to speak to him, documents stated. The woman worked as a records employee at the department.
According to a Pullman Police Department internal investigation, in the late summer or fall of 2015, a department employee said she received text messages from Hargraves while she was working in her records position. The woman summarized the texts as, “Hargraves wanted to have sex with her and when she refused, he asked her not to tell a PPD employee.” She said she could not remember the exact dates of when this happened, but she saved the text on her home computer, documents stated.
