An Oxford man serving a sentence for gross sexual assault died early Tuesday morning at the Maine State Prison in Warren, according to prison officials.

In a statement released Tuesday, Scott K. Fish from the Maine Department of Corrections confirmed that Stephen Ray Gravel, 53, died at approximately 5:45 a.m.

Maine State Police and the state medical examiner were notified and are reviewing the death, according to Attorney General’s Office protocols, Fish said.

Gravel, who had resided at 135 Yeaton Swamp Road, pleaded guilty to gross sexual assault in Oxford County Superior Court in May 2012 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all but five years suspended. According to Oxford police, he attacked a woman in March 2012

Gravel had two other convictions, according to the Maine Sex Offender Registry. In 1979, he was convicted of gross sexual misconduct in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta and was sentenced to five years in prison with all but two years suspended. 

He was convicted in 2008 of gross sexual assault in Oxford County Superior Court in South Paris, according to the Maine Sex Offender Registry. He was sentenced to 10 years, with all but two years suspended, as well as six years of probation. 


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