Ex-Hospital Aide Accused in Sex Case

A former nurse’s assistant at Columbia Los Robles Hospital has been arrested on suspicion of fondling at least two female patients while they were sedated, authorities said Thursday.

Chi Hon Lau, 42, was arrested by Ventura County Sheriff’s Department detectives Wednesday morning at his Newbury Park home after a three-week investigation conducted with help from hospital administrators.

Lau was fired last month from the 187-bed hospital. Hospital administrators refused to say why, but police said the dismissal related directly to the sex-crime allegations.

The investigation began after a 36-year-old hospital patient complained in September that Lau inappropriately touched her while she was sedated with pain medication.

A 28-year-old woman later voiced a similar complaint after her hospital stay in October, and sheriff’s investigators said they fear there are more victims who have yet to come forward.

“Apparently, one of our victims was coming out of sedation and felt this guy feeling her,” said Sgt. David Paige. The man refused to give his name, but was identified after the patient reported the incident to other hospital employees, Paige said.

Similar allegations were made against men at two other Ventura County hospitals in 1994.

Victor Sumner, a former nurse’s aide at Simi Valley Hospital, was convicted in 1994 of sexually molesting three women. Nurse Gordon Butikofer was convicted the next year of fondling two male patients at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

Lau, who according to police has no prior criminal record, was released from County Jail Wednesday after being arrested on suspicion of committing multiple felony counts of sexual battery. He had not been charged as of Thursday, however. He could not be reached for comment.

Kris Karraway, director of public relations for the 1,200-employee hospital, said Lau had been working at Los Robles a little over a year, starting in May 1996. She stressed that hospital employees had looked into Lau’s background before hiring him, calling references and checking with the state to verify his nursing assistant license and history. It all came up clean, she said.

“The hospital deplores this type of action and we are working with authorities,” Karraway said. “We have a lot of processes in place to monitor our employees and the quality of our care, and I think it is important to note that this is a very rare occurrence.”

Although the women told police they were just regaining consciousness at the time they noticed Lau touching them, Karraway said the hospital’s own internal investigation found that the women were fully awake.

“To the best of our knowledge--and we’ve been looking into this ever since we first heard of it--none of these patients were unconscious,” Karraway said. “They might have been touched while he was taking their pulse, but the term sexual battery is a bit alarmist, in my opinion.”

Nevertheless, Sheriff’s Det. Kent Adlof said there is no discrepancy between their account and the hospital’s, arguing that the women were under heavy medication and barely, if at all, conscious.

“They were sedated, and that’s why he was able to take advantage of them in this way,” Adlof said. “We feel there is a good chance that there are other victims out there, and we’re hoping that they come forward.”

Karraway said hospital officials do not expect to find other victims, but are providing all necessary documents and allowing investigators to question staff members.

“We have no knowledge of or complaints about any other incidents, and we have confidence that this is an isolated incident,” Karraway said. “But their concern is our concern. They’re worried there are more victims potentially, so we are, too.”