2nd Rape in Four Months Reported at Medical Center
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REDLANDS, Calif. — A mentally disabled woman is believed to have been raped at the Loma Linda Behavioral Medical Center, the second reported rape at the facility in four months.
“We’re doing a full investigation because it was a serious incident,” said Augustus Cheatham, vice president for public affairs and marketing. “We take the safety of patients very serious and we believe our employees are very diligent.”
Jerome Andreas, a 20-year-old Banning resident being treated at the center, was arrested Tuesday after admitting to police that he had sex with a 31-year-old Bakersfield woman, police said. The woman, who has the mental capacity of a child, was being treated in an adjacent room.
Andreas was being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $50,000 bond.
The rape allegedly occurred about 4:30 p.m. Monday and was reported to police about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
It is the second incident involving patients at the hospital in four months. Robert Thompson, 36, of Fontana was arrested in November on suspicion of raping a 68-year-old woman. Both were patients at the facility.
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