‘Heinous’: Federal prison nurse convicted of sexually assaulting 9 female inmates, threatening punishment if they ‘fought back’

Tony Klein (U.S. District Court) Coffee Creek Prison (YouTube screenshot)

A 38-year-old man in Oregon may spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was convicted of sexually assaulting nine female inmates while working as a federal prison guard for nearly a decade. A federal jury in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday found Tony Klein guilty on 17 counts of depriving his victims of their constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by sexual assault as well as four counts of perjury, authorities announced.

“This defendant is being held accountable for sexually assaulting female inmates under his care, custody and control,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement following the verdict. “Abuses of power and authority, like this, where the defendant took advantage of his position as a medical professional to satisfy his own sexual desires, will not be tolerated, and justice will be pursued. We thank the survivors of these sexual assaults for having the courage to come forward and tell their story.”

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, Klein served as a nurse at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, which is about 17 miles south of Portland. Part of his role as a nurse at the all-female prison was interacting with inmates seeking medical treatment and also dealing with inmates who worked in the prison’s medical unit as orderlies.

“Aided by his access to the women and his position of power as a corrections employee, Klein sexually assaulted or engaged in nonconsensual sexual conduct with many female inmates entrusted to his care,” prosecutors wrote in the release. “By virtue of his position as a medical provider, Klein was often alone with his victims and assaulted many before, during, or after medical treatment.”