Ex-Nurse Denies 3 Molestations
A former nurse at St. John’s Regional Medical Center pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of sexual battery on patients while they were sedated.
Gorden Butikofer, 37, appeared calm and chatted with his attorney as he waited for Thursday’s arraignment before Ventura County Municipal Judge Herbert Curtis III.
While a registered nurse at the Oxnard hospital between January, 1993, and this May, Butikofer fondled three Ventura County men who were receiving treatment, authorities said. Each alleged victim was in his 20s.
Curtis lowered Butikofer’s bail from $25,000 to $10,000. Prosecutors did not object to the bail reduction.
In court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Calvert said all three victims will testify against Butikofer during a preliminary hearing Oct. 12.
Court officials said that Butikofer lives in Utah. He has no criminal history, they said. Butikofer was arrested by Oxnard police at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday night, when he arrived to catch a plane to Mexico with some St. John’s hospital employees.
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