Nurse Says He’s Not Guilty of Raping Patients
A nurse pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he raped five women while they were under sedation in a hospital’s surgical recovery room.
Circuit Judge John Thurman set a pretrial hearing date of Dec. 5 for Bruce Alan Young and entered an order forbidding his accusers to discuss the case with each other.
Young, 45, a registered nurse at Citrus Memorial Hospital since 1990, stood shackled hand and foot before the judge. His attorney, William Lackay, wanted Thurman to prohibit the accusers from discussing the case with anybody at all, but prosecutors protested and the judge narrowed the scope of the request.
Young has been held under $100,000 bond at the Citrus County Jail since his arrest Oct. 3 after another nurse reported seeing him atop a 15-year-old anesthetized patient.
Police said he told them he targeted the unconscious teen-ager because she was “helpless and pretty.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
