Rape suspect subject of earlier reports

Eastern State Hospital officials received several reports of sexual abuse by a nurse dating back nearly a decade but did not report those incidents to law enforcement or discipline the man, who now stands accused of rape, according to court documents and interviews.

Guy M. Johnston, a 42-year-old nurse, allegedly had “inappropriate contact” with a mental patient in 1995 and was accused of having oral sex within the hospital – with whom is not clear – in 1997, according to documents filed in Spokane County District Court on June 16.

Johnston also had five prior arrests that somehow escaped the hospital’s screening process. On June 14, officers arrested him on suspicion that he raped a 29-year-old female patient.

In a four-page search warrant, a Washington State Patrol officer reported that the hospital’s medical staff coordinator, Shirley Maike, told him Eastern “had received other reports of ‘sexual misconduct’ in the past, but they didn’t feel they needed to be reported to law enforcement officials.”

State law requires the reporting of all allegations of sexual abuse by employees of the Department of Social and Health Services.

Hal Wilson, Eastern’s CEO, disputed the court records, stating that the 1997 allegation was reported to the Washington State Patrol, which he said found no evidence of an assault. He said it was unclear how the 1995 complaint was resolved. Maike refused to comment.

“It is the policy of the hospital in all patient abuse allegations that law enforcement be notified,” Wilson said. “We religiously do that. I am not aware of any incident where law enforcement hasn’t been notified.”

The warrant also stated that Johnston has prior arrests on charges of reckless endangerment, two assaults, malicious mischief and violating a court order.

Wilson said Eastern conducted a background check on all employees in 2000. Johnston, who began working at Eastern in 1992, disclosed one of the arrests, Wilson said. Wilson was unclear which arrest had been disclosed.

Asked whether he was aware of Johnston’s other arrests, Wilson said, “No, I was not. We weren’t aware to the extent that the record shows.”

According to court records, Johnston’s 28-year-old girlfriend sought a protective order in July 1996, stating he had choked her, put her fist through a china cabinet door, and beat her on the back with an ax handle in separate incidents. He was charged with second-degree assault later that month after he attempted to stab the woman in the head with scissors, according to court documents. A deputy went to Eastern and arrested Johnston. He later pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault.

Johnston was arrested on a charge of malicious mischief in November 1995, after a neighbor accused him of using a slingshot to break windows and puncture the siding on her mobile home. The same neighbor accused him of throwing rocks at her and stealing a $200 electrical box. A WSP officer removed several documents as part of the current investigation, so it remained unclear late Friday how the case was resolved. However, the court documents say the neighbor was awarded a judgment the following summer.

The search warrant provided new details into this month’s alleged rape of the woman, who had been placed in the hospital on a 72-hour commitment. Because she was considered suicidal, the hospital assigned Johnston to watch her.

On the evening of June 10, the woman reported that Johnston watched her change after she spilled coffee on herself, according to the search warrant. She said she then went into the laundry room, where Johnston allegedly followed and locked the door. She alleged that Johnston placed his penis in her mouth, and then put his hands in her shirt and down her pants.

Investigators collected a tissue that may hold DNA evidence.

Johnston’s case again raises questions about the state’s oversight of employees tasked with caring for the mentally ill.

Last year, DSHS overhauled its policies for complaint investigation and sexual-harassment training after a highly critical outside review. The review, conducted at Western State Hospital, found among other problems that a union-negotiated policy forced administrators to remove disciplinary letters from an employee’s file within a year, making it difficult to sanction repeat offenders.

State policy prohibits any sexual contact between employees and patients, whether or not it is consensual.

According to the court documents, Johnston’s supervisors ordered him to undergo “remedial retraining.” But Eastern officials never placed him on probation or restricted him from working with female patients, Wilson said.

“I’m sad to say, it’s not shocking at all,” said Tacoma attorney Darrell Cochran, who represents two women suing a former administrator at Western for sexual harassment. “All we have seen is lip service as to changes that are going to be made at state institutions. We have struggled for more than 10 years to protect not only employees but patients as well. It’s been an uphill battle.”