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Trial for Pullman Police sergeant facing sexual misconduct charge set for September

The jury trial for former Pullman PD Sgt. Jerry Hargraves, who faces sexual assault charges, is set for Sept. 9. A readiness hearing is set for Aug. 23.

PULLMAN, Wash. — Former Pullman Police Department Sgt. Jerry Daniel Hargraves, who faces a charge of sexual misconduct in the first degree, is set to start his jury trial on Sept. 9.

Hargraves, 49, is also set to face a judge for a readiness hearing at 10 a.m. on Aug. 23.

Pullman police announced on Nov. 29, 2018, that Hargraves had resigned amid an investigation into sexual misconduct claims.

Authorities said Hargraves was arrested on Oct. 30, 2018 as a result of an investigation that began in April 2018 when a female Washington State University student reported she was sexually assaulted.

Pullman Police officials said Hargraves submitted his resignation one day before he was going to be interviewed by investigators conducting an internal investigation to determine whether he violated department policy.

In a press release, Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said the internal investigation was completed without a statement from Hargraves. Jenkins said the investigation found that Hargraves violated a number of department policies including involvement in criminal conduct, failure to activate his body camera as required, failure to make proper notifications when transporting a female and improper treatment of a person in custody.

Officials said Hargraves still faces felony criminal charges in Whitman County.

Jenkins said he will be submitting a notice to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission that Hargraves separated from service due to “disqualifying conduct.” The notice will initiate a process to decertify Hargraves as an officer in Washington State. Jenkins said this data is entered into the National Decertification Index and is accessible to law enforcement nationwide.

Sexual assault investigation

Washington State Patrol began investigating allegations that Hargraves 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 said she was thinking she would "have to pay him a good sum of money." She told him she would do "like anything," documents stated.

The victim told investigators "it became very quiet in the police vehicle and Hargraves stopped the vehicle a few minutes later."

Court documents said cellphone location indicated they stopped in the Reaney Park area. The victim told investigators that Hargraves "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.

Court documents said Hargraves told her to get back in the car and asked her where she wanted to be dropped off. He later dropped her off at Rogers Hall, documents stated.

On April 5, the victim called the Office for Equal Opportunities to report the incident, according to court documents.

According to court documents, WSP swabbed both officers’ cars on April 9 and no DNA evidence was found. They also looked at both officers’ phones but found no evidence regarding the allegations.

On April 18, court documents said the victim had an interview with detectives where "she provided details and a timeline as well as identifying Hargraves (from the PPD website) as the officer that made her perform a sexual act."

According to court records, the victim also provided detectives with her clothing that she wore the night of the incident and it was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory for DNA analysis.

On June 11, a WSP forensic scientist "located sperm on the sleeve of the victim's clothing." The next day, court documents said detectives got a search warrant for Hargraves' DNA.

By August 14, a WSP forensic scientist found the DNA on the victim's clothing matched Hargraves' DNA sample.

Hargraves was also the subject of an investigation in 2016 when he allegedly sent inappropriate text messages to a female employee at the police department.

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