WESTFIELD – A Belchertown man has been arraigned in Westfield District Court after an alleged sexual assault upon a wheelchair-bound patient at Western Massachusetts Hospital.
In a document filed with the court in support of an application for a criminal complaint, State Trooper Michael J. Blanchette reports that on Friday, Nov. 18, he was assigned to investigate an incident reported to the State Police detective unit attached t o the Hampden County District Attorney’s office by Westfield Police Det. Susan Figy. Because the hospital is owned by the Commonwealth, city police do not have jurisdiction and crimes there are investigated by state troopers.
Blanchette reported that on the same day the case was assigned, he met with the chief executive officer of Western Massachusetts Hospital, Valenda Liptak, together with Figy and fellow trooper Ronald Gibbons, to discuss and incident on Nov. 16 which had been reported by staff members.
Hospital staffers had reported concerns about a female patient who has been diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair, and who had been visited by a male party. Liptak told the detectives that the patient requires assistance bathing, dressing and eating, but can vocalize her needs and is able to make everyday decisions for herself.
Shortly thereafter, the detectives were joined by Liptak for an interview with the patient. Blanchette reports that the woman said that she doesn’t like it when the man comes to visit her and his visits make her “nervous.”
The patient said that the first time was “a long time ago” and went on to say that the man “touches me all over, all the time, every time.” The woman told the investigators that when she tells him to stop “he doesn’t listen and just gets ‘madder and madder’ at her.”
She told Blanchette that, although he did not “take out his penis to touch her with it” on his most recent visit, her visitor has done so in the past even though she tells him “no” and “stop in the first place.”
The next day, Blanchette reports, he spoke with a staff member who had reported a disquieting conversation with the patient.
The staffer said that she remarked to the patient that she heard the woman had a visitor the day before and “immediately sensed that it definitely bothered (the patient)” who said “he tries to kiss me. I tell him no”. The staffer asked the patient if the man was her boyfriend and she replied “No, he touches me, touches me. I tell him no. He does it anyways.”
Blanchette reports he next spoke with another staffer who had reported the Nov. 16 incident, which sparked the investigation.
The nurse said that she had noticed that the door to the patient’s room was closed and, when she checked, she found that the window shade had been drawn, the lights had been turned off and the privacy curtain had been shut.
The nurse said that she consulted another nurse and together they entered the room, turned on the lights and opened the privacy curtain to find the visitor had a flushed face and was standing “right up against” the patient whose wheelchair had been reclined all the way back. The nurse told Blanchette “The visitor looked like he just got caught in the middle of something” and said that she and her colleague “didn’t know what to say, so they left the room to get another nurse.”
Blanchette reports that he reviewed a written statement provided by the nurse who had accompanied the reporting nurse into the room and she had written that when she asked the patient about her visitor she was told that the man “was kissing her all over and touching her” and had been asked to stop.
Liptak told Blanchette that, when she informed a family member, who holds a health care proxy enabling her to make medical and legal decisions on the patient’s behalf, the woman informed her that the visitor in question had been the patient’s realtor in 2007 and had remained friendly with the patient and her mother. He was identified as Frederick F. Owen, 63, of 208 Federal St., Belchertown.
Blanchette filed an application for a criminal complaint on Tuesday, Nov. 22, alleging indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years-of-age or older and disabled, as well as assault and battery on a disabled person.
A warrant was issued and on Tuesday Owen came to the Westfield Police department and was arrested. He was arraigned in district court later that same day for the charges alleged and was released on $1,000 personal surety pending a Jan. 10, 2012, hearing.
