PORTLAND, Ore.-Kelvin Valentino McDuffie, 34, of Supai, Arizona, was sentenced to eight months in federal prison and one year of supervised release today for assaulting an in-custody defendant in the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland.
According to court documents, on July 26, 2019, Deputy U.S. Marshals escorted McDuffie, an adult female victim, and other male and female inmates into a prisoner elevator inside the federal courthouse. The male and female inmates were separated by a metal chain-link screen and McDuffie was restrained with handcuffs and a belly chain.
As the elevator arrived at a floor, McDuffie reached his fingers through the chain-link screen and touched the victim’s inner thigh and buttocks through her clothing with the intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, and degrade the victim and arouse and gratify his own sexual desire.
McDuffie was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after being arrested in the District of Oregon for an alleged violation of the supervised release that had been imposed following a conviction for assaulting a federal officer in the District of Arizona.
On Nov. 21, 2019, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a two-count indictment charging McDuffie with assault and abusive sexual contact. On April 21, 2020, he pleaded guilty to assault.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office are committed to enforcing the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). PREA requires the development and promulgation of “national standards for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape." These standards, like the law mandating them, are intended to address a serious public safety, public health, and human rights problem-the incidence of sexual violence in our nation’s confinement facilities. To learn more about PREA, please visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/prison-rape-elimination-act-prea/overview.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
