DOJ charges more FCI Dublin officers with sex crimes
The Department of Justice on Thursday announced that two former correctional officers at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin have been charged with sex crimes, bringing the number to 10, the highest number of BOP employees charged with these crimes of any prison in the country.
DUBLIN, Calif. – The Department of Justice on Thursday announced that two former correctional officers at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin have been charged with sex crimes, bringing the number to 10, the highest number of BOP employees charged with these crimes of any prison in the country.
2 more officers
Jeffrey Raymond Wilson, 34, a nurse at the prison, and Lawrence Gacad, 33, were charged on Wednesday with the sexual abuse of female inmates.
Federal prosecutors charged Wilson with five counts of sexual abuse of a ward related a woman identified only as C.S., on multiple occasions in a medical room at the prison’s camp between March 14 and Aug. 16, 2022. Some of the allegations include oral sex, or more specifically that he “caused contact between his penis and C.S.’s mouth.”
In a civil suit that she filed, C.S. alleged that Wilson would start to check her vitals, but then would digress to kissing her neck, puting her hand on his penis, pinned her against the wall, pinched her nipples, shoved her on her knees and “warned her if she wanted to see her kids, she knew what to do.”
The acts escalated, her suit claims, with Wilson allegedly taking photos of her in her lingerie and engaging in oral sex five times a week.
Wilson is also charged with falsely telling federal agents that he had never had sexual contact with C.S. and that he had never given her contraband while she was incarcerated.
Through her civil suit, C.S. was awarded more than $1 million in a massive, unprecedented $116-million civil settlement from the Bureau of Prisons, where 103 women once incarcerated at FCI Dublin alleged they were sexually assaulted.
Gacad, 33, is charged with one count of abusive sexual contact related to his alleged abuse of a woman identified as S.L., between March 1 and June 14, 2022.
Their cases were filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California by Asst. U.S. Attorneys Andrew Paulson and Alethea Sargent.
It was unclear if either former officer had a defense attorney.
No date has been set yet for the initial appearances.
Powerless in Prison: The fallout of FCI Dublin
In April, the Bureau of Prisons abruptly shut down the troubled FCI Dublin. KTVU interviews dozens of women and explains what led up to the closure, questioning whether this was retaliation for outside oversight over the prison, which has been riddled with sex abuse for decades.
Women speak out
D.B., a woman who was incarcerated at the time but didn’t want to use her full name, said she was abused by Wilson, even though she is not an official victim listed in the charging documents.
She said she has much more confidence in the U.S. Attorney’s Office since they charged these officers even though the prison has closed.
“I’m just glad he’s charged,” D.B. said in a phone interview. “When I went in for prescription medication, he violently sexually assaulted me. My pants were down. My shirt was up to my neck. He stopped because someone knocked on the door.”
Another formerly incarcerated woman, who wanted to be identified as A.J., said in an interview on Thursday that Wilson made her lift her shirt and touch her breasts and pelvic area, and told her he’d write her up for insubordination if she didn’t comply.
“I’m actually quite ecstatic,” she said. “Because we’ve been waiting and wondering why.”
Both D.B. and A.J. also received roughyly $1 million apiece stemming from the same massive BOP lawsuit, where Wilson and others were their alleged abusers.
Susan Beaty, an attorney who represents many sexual assault survivors from FCI Dublin, said it’s encouraging to see the DOJ bring these additional charges, but the “systemic abuse” across the federal prison system “goes so much further than the charges that have been brought.”
Beaty added that this sexual abuse was happening even when the former warden was removed and multiple federal agencies were investigating the facility, “and after the BOP falsely claimed to the court that the abuse had ended.”
BOP statement
In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
But BOP Director William K. Marshall III, who stepped in soon after President Trump took office for his second term, said there is no tolerance for abuse of power.
“Let me be clear: those who wear the Bureau of Prisons uniform are held to the highest standards,” Marshall wrote. “The men and women who show up every day, break their backs, and do the hard, honest work of corrections—they have my respect and are the backbone of the Bureau.
“But those who abuse their position, who treat inmates or their fellow employees with anything less than the dignity and integrity I would expect my kids to be treated with, the type this profession demands—they are not BOP employees in my eyes. By their actions, they have forfeited that title. When someone crosses that line, they are no longer upholding our mission—they’re undermining it.”
He added that he was appointed by Trump to lead the BOP with “strength and an unwavering commitment to accountability, transparency, and real criminal justice reform. That mission demands more than words—it demands action.”
Marshall added that when he receives “credible information” that an employee is engaging in misconduct, he will use his “every tool, and every ounce of influence I have to ensure those individuals are held accountable—and will do so publicly to send a clear message—if you dishonor the uniform, you will be held accountable. Full stop.”
8 other officers
So far, seven other officers, including former Warden Ray Garcia, have been convicted and sentenced to prison for their various sex crimes.
A mistrial was declared in April for the eighth officer, Darrell “Dirty Dick” Smith, after a jury couldn’t agree on whether to find him guilty. A new trial for him is scheduled for August.
Prison closed
In April 2024, former BOP Director Colette Peters shut down FCI Dublin, saying she couldn’t change the sexualized culture there.
It now sits empty and the future use for the building is unknown, despite talks of possibly turning it into an ICE detention center.
The 600 women who used to be incarcerated there have either been released or transferred to other prisons across the country.
