Monday saw the 25-count indictment of a former nurse unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Tony Daniel Klein, 37, is looking at 21 counts of depriving women of their constitutional rights not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, alongside four counts of perjury.
He’s been accused of sexually assaulting a dozen women while they were incarcerated. If convicted, he could face life in prison, though he has pleaded not guilty to each of the 25 charges.
“The indictment alleges that from 2016 through 2017, Klein committed various forms of sexual assault, some of which included aggravated sexual abuse and some resulting in bodily injury,” the Justice Department said in a release.
Klein surrendered himself on Monday morning to the FBI, according to a Justice Department official.
After a yearlong investigation by OPB, Klein has been accused by at least 27 women of inappropriate actions and sexual assault while working at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville – the only adult women’s prison in Oregon.
Between 2017 and 2020, the Oregon State Police, Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the Oregon Department of Corrections, and the state nursing board have all looked into allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against him. Klein has consistently denied all allegations and was never criminally charged prior to now.
According to the state licensing board’s website, Klein still has his active nursing license as of Tuesday, March 15.
Klein appeared in federal court via video from the U.S. Marshals holding facility in the federal Portland courthouse. While he was granted pretrial release by Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You, Klein was ordered to surrender his expired passport and was barred from leaving the state without permission. Klein has additionally been barred from owning or accessing firearms and from contacting his alleged victims.
In 2019, ten women alleged that Klein sexually abused them and sued both Klein and the Oregon prison system. In 2020, Oregon paid $1.7 million to settle the civil lawsuits, which resulted in neither Klein nor the state admitting fault.
The women’s attorney, Michelle Burrows, told OPB she was stunned at the federal indictment, saying, “I can’t really believe it. It’s huge – I’m glad he got indicted. I’m pretty sure he’s going to prison.”
Burrows deposed Klein under oath as part of the civil litigation, and all four of Klein’s charges of “false declarations before the court” stem from statements he made to Burrows on Nov. 20, 2019.
Oregon Department of Corrections Director Colette Peters released a statement on Monday after the indictment was unsealed, saying, “While Mr. Klein has not been a DOC employee since 2018, today’s indictment shows that the voices of women in custody are heard and taken seriously.”
She later continued, saying, “DOC has zero-tolerance for sexual violence against the people in our care, and allegations will not be swept under the rug or ignored regardless of whether the person accused is no longer employed by our Department. Now the federal criminal justice system can rightly deal with these serious allegations.”
By Ethan Hauck
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