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Hospital employee accused of touching patients
Hospital worker accused of touching patients
Two patients from Saddleback Hospital in Laguna Hills told deputies they woke up to find an employee kissing them, while a third said she was molested by the 47-year-old man.
LAGUNA HILLS – Two women woke up in Saddleback Hospital to a medical assistant kissing their face and stroking their hair, officials said Thursday, and a third woman said she was molested while the man tended to her.
On Wednesday evening, deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Department arrested 47-year-old Narciso Romanes Blando, a patient-care assistant at the Laguna Hills hospital, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
The Orange resident was taken into custody after a woman told investigators that Blando touched her inappropriately while he was applying medication on her ankles for pain, Amormino said. The woman was described only as being in her 50s, and Blando was accused of touching her groin area Monday.
About three hours after that incident was alleged to have occurred, a second woman in her 50s told deputies, she woke up in the hospital and saw Blando kissing her face and stroking her hair, Amormino said.
During the deputies' investigation, officials discovered a third victim in her 50s, Amormino said, who said that she too woke up in the hospital and found Blando kissing her.
The three women are believed to have taken pain medication during their stays at the hospital.
"There's a possibility there may be additional victims," Amormino said.
Blando was taken into custody on suspicion of one count of sexual assault, Amormino said, relating to the accusation he touched the woman's groin. Deputies are still investigating the other two incidents.
Blando was being held in Men's Central Jail.
Contact the writer: shernandez@ocregister.com or 949-454-7361
