Police: Heavily Medicated Patient Raped In Hospital Bed

GASTON COUNTY, N.C.,None — Police in Gaston County said a patient at Gaston Memorial Hospital raped another patient who was heavily medicated at the time.

Eyewitness News was in court when the suspect, Howard Gillespie, met a judge for the first time. He did not have much to say to the judge but did say through the courtroom's TV monitor connected to the jail, "Your Honor, I did not commit this crime."

The crime Gillespie is accused of shocked police.

"It's unusual. It's not something you see every day, "said Donna Lahser, the public information specialist with the Gastonia Police Department.

Police said that on July 20, Gillespie got into the bed of a 35-year-old patient he didn't know at Gaston Memorial Hospital and raped her.

"She was not in a state to fight back," Lahser said.

She said the patient was heavily medicated and not fully aware of what was happening.

"She was physically helpless at the time, medicated, not fully conscious," Lahser said.

There are still a number of questions surrounding the case, but one sergeant overseeing the detectives working on it told Eyewitness News, "The evidence here is pretty overwhelming."

Eyewitness News wanted to ask the hospital how an alleged crime like this could have happened and what security measures are in place to keep patients safe. However, officials declined the request for an on-camera interview, saying public officials have asked them to hold off on interviews for now. In a statement to Eyewitness News, they said, in part, "It is a very serious matter. We at CaroMont are fully cooperating with authorities as they continue their investigation."

Channel 9 looked into Gillespie's background. He has a prior record that includes convictions for assaulting a female and habitual misdemeanor assault. The judge set his bond at $150,000. He is due back in court in mid-August.

WSOC