CLAY CO.—A Flora man who months ago was accused by a neighbor of a child sex assault has now been arrested on gun violence charges.
Ronald L. Bray, 41, of North Worthey Street in Flora, was arrested on January 6 after it’s alleged that at about a quarter to three that afternoon, he forced the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun into the mouth of one Dustin Gragert.
The situation was exacerbated when responding officers discovered that Bray, while in possession of the shotgun, didn’t have a Firearm Owner’s ID (FOID) card.
Bray was charged on January 8 with a count of Aggravated Battery using a deadly weapon, and Possession of Firearm Without Requisite FOID Card. He was lodged in the county jail in Louisville where he was shown to still be as of press time.
While Bray has a mild criminal history consisting of several violence/domestic violence allegations/filings (ending in dismissal) and one that ended with a plea, the escalation to an alleged act of violence with a firearm seems sudden and inexplicably prompted.
That, however, might not be such an inexplicable turn if the civil record is examined.
There, an Order of Protection issued against Bray by a neighbor on behalf of her young daughter shows that worse allegations are being made in a civil realm…and leave the real question of why no criminal investigation has been undertaken or, if one has, what the outcome would be if it isn’t an arrest and charges.
Stalking/No-contact order requested
Court records in Clay County show that on September 6, 2013, a verified petition for a civil no-contact order was filed by one Ashley Heck against Bray.
Heck indicated that she was seeking the order on behalf of her daughters, whose names will not be listed in this report.
According to the complaint, Heck reported that on June 2, 2013, at her address on West Fifth Street in Flora, “Ron Bray came into my front yard and sexually assaulted my 7-year-old daughter (name deleted) while she was playing. My 4-year-old (name deleted) was also present. Ron told (the older daughter) to turn around and look at a spider, when she did he put his hand up her shorts and put his fingers in her vagina. I was inside my house at the time, when my daughters came in very upset, but wouldn’t say at first what had happened.”
Heck recounted that “about two hours later, I was putting (the older daughter) into the bathtub when she started crying and complaining that her privates hurt. When I looked at her vagina, I saw she was swollen, bruised and the skin was cracked around the opening of her vagina. I demanded to know what had happened and she told me what Ron had done. I then asked her sister and she told me what he’d done also.”
Took her to emergency room
Heck said she took the girl to the Flora ER “where she recounted the story several times to the nurse, doctor and police. Prior to this incident Ron Bray had been buying my daughters candy, and there was also a time I found him talking to (the younger daughter) through her bedroom window, however, I thought he was being nice to the kids because he had a crush on me.”
Heck then recounted a rather unusual situation that she termed “court,” although court proceedings only take place in a courtroom; most likely, and if the available paperwork in the file is any indication, there was some sort of agency proceeding held, as “SAFE” (Sexual Assault and Family Emergencies) out of Centralia became involved in the matter, and since such agencies as SAFE, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Guardian Center and a whole host of such grant-dependent agencies operate outside the jurisdiction of the courts and the law, they will hold hearings at their agencies’ offices, or at another location convenient to all involved.
Apparently, SAFE was able to arrange such a hearing at city hall in Flora, as Heck recounts:
“At the end of August my mother, Patricia Tuck and I had court at the city hall in Flora, IL. Ron Bray was present. While we were at court, Ron made several threatening gestures to my mother and I. He ran his fingers across his throat and put his fingers to his head acting as if he was shooting himself in the head. Officers Guy Durre, John Nicholson and Geb Borders all witnessed this, and they actually removed him from the city hall three times because of it.”
Then things, according to paperwork, got heated.
“While I was testifying in front of the judge he stood up and charged at me,” Heck wrote, “so Guy and John removed him from the city hall.”
OP granted, but no charges filed
The Stalking/No-contact order was granted for Heck against Bray, and in October, after a courthouse hearing during which Bray refused to offer testimony in his own defense, a plenary (two-year) order was entered in the case.
However, to date, no criminal charges have been filed against Bray in connection with the incident that got a Stalking/No-contact order issued against him, leaving the situation a weird one that verges on the edge of slander/unproven accusations…and yet a judge of the court has heard all the details and has allowed an order to be entered that basically upholds the allegations.
This wouldn’t be the first time such allegations have been held up in civil court and ignored in criminal…but it remains a rare situation. There has been no indication that Bray is the subject of an investigation into the sexual misconduct as presented in civil court. However, with the recent violence charges, the investigation into that matter might lead into examination of the sex allegations…at which time county prosecutor Marilyn Brant may file criminal charges after all.