A nurse has been arrested following the rape and subsequent pregnancy of a woman who was reportedly in a vegetative state at a care home in Phoenix, Arizona.
36-year-old Nathan Sutherland will be charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, according to Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams, according to The Washington Post.
The arrest comes after a 29-year-old woman at Hacienda HealthCare gave birth just after Christmas. Staff were reportedly unaware she was pregnant, as she had been in a vegetative state since 1992.
Sutherland was arrested after authorities obtained a search warrant which enforced Sutherland to undergo a DNA test.
Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson told reporters that Sutherland was still under investigation as to whether he may have assaulted other people at Hacienda HealthCare, as he had been working at the facility since 2011 – although investigators weren’t sure as yet whether this was in the capacity of an employee or a contractor, or whether he was also working at other facilities as well.
“From the minute we first became aware of the crime, we have virtually worked nonstop, seven days a week, to resolve this case,” Williams told reporters.
