VENTURA : Man Faces Trial in Sexual Assault Case

A former nursing aide who was charged with raping a teen-age patient at a Ventura psychiatric hospital will be arraigned Sept. 19 in Ventura County Superior Court.

Robert Anthony Gialloreto, 21, of Oxnard was bound over for trial Tuesday on charges that he raped and sexually assaulted a patient at Vista del Mar Hospital.

Gialloreto, who pleaded not guilty Aug. 22 at his Municipal Court arraignment, is charged with having sexual intercourse with an incompetent person, even though the 18-year-old woman was a willing participant, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Connors said.

In the preliminary hearing, Dr. Robert Auric testified that his patient, a Ventura woman who voluntarily admitted herself to the hospital, was not competent enough to have given consent for sexual relations with the defendant, Connors said.

Gialloreto’s attorney, John R. Sheehan of Burbank, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

According to accounts given to Ventura police, a supervising nurse of the hospital entered a closed conference room July 20 and came upon Gialloreto and the patient.

Gialloreto, when told to leave, did so and then turned himself in to police, Connors said.

Joan Galvan, the hospital’s director of marketing, said Gialloreto had worked at the facility “a short amount of time” and was no longer employed there. She refused further comment.

Gialloreto, who remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $20,000 bail, was charged with sexually assaulting the 18-year-old July 19 and 20, Connors said.

The prosecutor added that Gialloreto had been in the mental health field for about three years and had worked at another facility before starting at the Ventura hospital in June.