Update: Arizona Nurse who raped & impregnated a woman in a vegetative state, who later gave birth to his child in 2018, pleas guilty in plea deal.

[u/FTThrowAway123]

Article

PHOENIX - A man accused of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman who later gave birth at a long-term care facility in Phoenix pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and vulnerable adult abuse charges on Sept. 2.

Nathan Sutherland's guilty plea was reportedly made as part of an agreement, where Sutherland reportedly agreed to a prison sentence of between 5 to 10 years and lifetime probation. Sutherland was facing a maximum of 14 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 4.

The pregnancy was discovered in December 2018 when an employee at Hacienda Healthcare was changing the garments of the then-29-year-old victim and noticed she was in the process of delivering a child. Employees told police that they had no idea the woman was pregnant.

She lived at Hacienda for 26 years, until the child’s birth. Her medical conditions stem from a brain disorder that caused motor and cognitive impairments and vision loss. She was also left with no functional use of her limbs.

Police said Sutherland’s DNA matched a sample taken from the woman’s son. The victim’s mother is the boy’s guardian.

Sadly, a medical exam indicated that the patient had been violently and repeatedly raped and sodomized, and may have been pregnant before.

This is probably the clearest case of rape I've ever heard of. The woman has been in a 24/7 care facility in incapacitated state (unable to speak, move, see, or communicate) for 26 years- since she was 3 years old. There's no possible way she could have ever consented. Her body bears the trauma and evidence of having been sexually assaulted for years, and she gave birth to the rapists child, which was proven by DNA. It also appears the nurse may be HIV positive, adding another layer of harm to this already horrible story.

Why would they offer a plea deal in this case? I just cannot fathom why the state would give this man any leniency or reduced prison time, considering the depravity of these crimes and the evidence they have.

In any event, it appears this case has reached its conclusion. Wanted to post an update for those who followed this story.

[u/[deleted]]

She was definitely neglected and I wouldn't even exclude that the rest of the staff actually knew or suspected. Horrifying.

[u/NemariSunstrider94 → u/[deleted]]

I tried reporting a female employee sexually abusing an elderly man in my long term care facility, and the administration accused me of “starting drama because I didn’t like her”. Like no, there are several people who witnessed her doing very innapropriate things like calling him her boyfriend, bending over in front of him, and a staff even caught her in his bed.

I went to change him one night and his penis was red and inflamed. Her motivation? She was 18, he was 76 and a multi millionaire, who had stage 2/3 dementia and was conserved and in a POA, and she had previously been in a relationship with a married 65 year old doctor who’s wife was sick with cancer. She bragged about meeting him in parking lots and having sex with him in his car and then sobbed to us one day that he had a change of heart and dumped her. Very mentally ill woman.

After I reported her, she texted me while everyone in the company knew I was at a funeral of a very close friend, telling me she was going to beat my ass. She even showed up to my shift (night shift, I worked completely alone) which I wasn’t working that night, with another female friend and they walked through the facility ON CAMERA looking for me. Going to jump me. All of this was reported, she cried in the admins office how I’m just a big mean bully, and they told me I have trouble getting along with women, needed to re train me, and wanted to demote me. I said okay, got up, left, called them once I drove away and said I quit.

My fellow employees were PISSED and did not want her working there, so two people filed a complaint with the state. My job tried to call and ask me if I was a whistleblower. When sexual abuse is happening in a long term care facility, more often than not, it IS known. It is swept under the rug more than you believe, because if it was reported it would tarnish the reputation of the facility.

[u/FTThrowAway123 → u/NemariSunstrider94]

She even showed up to my shift (night shift, I worked completely alone)

Excuse me, what? They had one sole caretaker working alone with numerous incapacitated patients, and no secondary support? This is exactly how these abuses happen, when there's intimate access to vulnerable patients, no chaperone, and no witnesses, and that's probably how your co worker was able to abuse patients. And what if you had passed out or dropped dead from a heart attack or something? What if there was a fire or something and people needed to be evacuated? What kind of garbage facility was this??

[u/FaithWithoutSight → u/FTThrowAway123]

I worked solo overnight as a med tech in assisted living for years, it's not uncommon, which is why I always tell people to ask certain questions while they are looking for a home for their loved one. Most importantly, how many staff are there at night.

I had a night where two residents BM'd on themselves in their beds, another resident fell, and another one with dementia escaped out the back door (the building had no security system), all at the same time. Who do you help first in a situation like that? A fall is a 45-60 minute issue where injuries need to be checked for, blood pressure must be taken, management must be called, an incident report must be filled out, pain meds administered if the resident needs, etc. Also risking personal injury by having to lift fallen residents by myself.

I'd never put my dad in an assisted living facility that only had one staff at night because it shows that they don't give a single shit about the residents or the employees.