PORT ANGELES — A substitute teacher who allegedly threatened to kill people on a hit list will enter a 30-day inpatient drug and alcohol treatment program Monday.
Jesse Adams Gray, 38, of Port Angeles, was charged Oct. 29 with harassment-threats to kill after allegedly sending texts — allegedly while drunk — to a neighboring property owner in Forks on Oct. 27 and his parents in North Carolina a week earlier about killing people and getting on the national news.
Adams, out of jail as of Oct. 29 on $20,000 bond, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
A review hearing is Nov. 15 and a status hearing Jan. 9.
A three-day trial was set for Feb. 3.
Judge Lauren Erickson altered Gray’s conditions of release Friday to allow him to travel out of state for treatment at The Bluffs treatment center in Sherrodsville, Ohio.
Alcohol involved
According to jail phone calls made by Gray, he said he sent the text to the Forks resident and a similar text to his parents when he was intoxicated, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Roberson said when the charge was filed.
According to a letter from The Bluffs Treatment Specialist Sabrina Hall: “This type of structured accountability-based treatment plan will provide the best opportunity for success.”
The letter was sent to Gray’s lawyer, Karen Unger of Port Angeles, and was contained in court files.
Unger said she did not know why Gray was getting treatment in Ohio.
“That’s where the family was able to get him into treatment, that’s all,” she said.
Gray is suspended from the Port Angeles School District’s substitute teacher pool until the outcome of the case, school district spokesperson Jennifer Sperline said Friday in an email.
Gray, who owns a firearm, allegedly sent an Oct. 27 text message to an adult male Forks resident who owns property next to property Gray owns in the West End.
“Hey,” Gray texted the Forks resident, according to the probable cause statement.
“I’ve been planning something over the past year or so … since people out here have sabotaged my life … I’m about to act it out in this next year once I’ve got everything to take out everything all the names on my list … just you wait and see it going to be terrible all on the national news channels … just wait and see … you are included. just wait and see!!! lol hahah [expletive deleted] this place !!! Just wait and see.”
The Forks man later received a message from Gray saying he did not have anything to worry about.
The following day, Gray’s parents, who live in North Carolina, told the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department that Gray had contacted them the previous week by email or text “making threats about taking people out and getting on the national news.”
“This report was made without the knowledge that [the Forks resident] had an independent encounter with Jesse Gray by cell phone,” the probable cause statement said.
The maximum penalty for harassment-threats to kill is five years and $10,000 fine.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
