2 Technicians in Court on Charges of Molestation

Two X-ray technicians accused of sexually assaulting patients in separate cases appeared in San Diego Municipal Court on Wednesday, where one denied his guilt and another went on trial.

Edmund Settle, a 24-year-old Navy corpsman, pleaded not guilty to three felony child molestation charges stemming from his previous employment at Children’s Hospital.

Settle was arrested Monday on charges that he molested two children and attempted to molest a third last year. The victims are male and ranged in age from 7 to 12, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Madruga.

Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz lowered Settle’s bail to $5,000 and ordered him to appear at a preliminary hearing June 11.

Meanwhile, a jury heard an opening statement in the case of another X-ray technician charged with assaulting two female patients.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Atwill told a jury that Oscar Figueroa was a “predator” who placed stickers on the breasts of two victims without any medical reason.

“He used his position as an X-ray technician at Coronado Hospital to violate the trust of two patients,” Atwill said.

Although one of the victims was a 16-year-old girl, Atwill said the most egregious crime involved a woman who was admitted to the hospital because of severe pain caused for unknown reasons. The woman, 26, who was the first witness in the trial, received a second, unauthorized examination from Figueroa, Atwill said.

After the woman had been given two strong painkillers in preparation for exploratory surgery, Figueroa took her to an X-ray room, where “he told her, ‘I have to do a pelvic and rectal examination on you,’ ” Atwill said.

Doctors at the hospital did not authorize any such examination, Atwill told the jury.