A former Easthampton Public Schools paraeducator was sentenced to five to seven years in state prison Thursday after pleading guilty to repeatedly sexually assaulting two 7-year-old students at Mountain View School. Troy Gray, 60, admitted to 10 charges in Hampshire Superior Court, closing a case that began with his arrest more than two years ago.
Gray pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness and one count of annoying and accosting another person, according to wwlp.com. The station reports he will serve five to seven years behind bars followed by 10 years of supervised probation.
Prosecutors say Gray repeatedly touched the private areas of two students while working as a paraeducator in two Mountain View School classrooms, with the abuse occurring between November 2022 and November 2023, per Western Mass News. Both children were seven years old at the time the incidents occurred, the outlet notes.
Sentence Carries Long-Term Restrictions
Once released, Gray will be required to register as a sex offender, complete sex-offender treatment and wear a GPS monitoring device, prosecutors said, per the same wwlp.com account. His probation conditions also bar him from unsupervised contact with minors and from any contact with the victims and their family members, the station reports.
The sentence was jointly recommended by prosecutors and defense attorney Colin Keefe of Greenfield, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The newspaper reports that Hampshire Superior Court Judge Tracy Duncan handed down the sentence.
Assistant District Attorney Lori Odierna, who chairs the district attorney's office child protection unit, praised the survivors for their courage in coming forward and disclosing the abuse, according to MassLive. Odierna said the guilty plea spared the children from having to testify at trial and relive their traumatic experiences, the outlet reports.
A Case That Grew Over Two Years
Gray's arrest dates back to February 2024, when he pleaded not guilty in Northampton District Court to five counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 involving a single victim, along with one count of intimidation of a witness, according to the Gazette's earlier 2024 reporting. At that time, a judge ordered Gray released on condition that he have no contact with children under 16 in any form, that he stay away from Mountain View School, and that he stay away from the alleged victim and their family, the Gazette reported.
By the time Gray entered his guilty plea this week, the case had expanded to include a second victim and additional charges, growing from the original five counts to eight counts of indecent assault and battery. The case was handled through the Northwestern District Attorney's Office's child protection unit, which Odierna leads.
