IRVINE : Nurse’s Boyfriend Held in Patient Rape
A 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman who employs his girlfriend as a live-in nurse, police said Monday.
Kevin Lee Gardner, 35, was taken into custody Sunday evening when the victim, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, reported the incident to Irvine police officers checking her home at the request of relatives, Sgt. Phil Povey said.
Gardner is being held in County Jail on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today in Harbor Municipal Court.
Police said they do not believe that the girlfriend, whose name was not released, knew of the incident. But Povey said she has been “uncooperative” with investigators since Gardner’s arrest.
The employer, in her 30s, is confined to a wheelchair. She has employed the live-in nurse since Feb. 1, Povey said.
Her relatives had called police when they had not been able to reach her by phone for several days, Povey said.
Gardner, an unemployed house painter, had visited his girlfriend at the home on previous occasions, Povey said. He was last known to live in South Laguna.
Gardner’s former roommate there said Gardner left that residence about two months ago.
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