Nursing assistant charged with rape

A 40-year-old nursing assistant at Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville is awaiting trial on a charge of raping a patient.

Terry Christopher Altvater was charged with second-degree rape earlier this month in Stevens County Superior Court.

Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen alleges in court documents that Altvater sexually assaulted a 57-year-old woman when she checked into the hospital Dec. 15 for treatment of influenza.

The woman told Colville police she had to slap Altvater’s hand away when he reached under her blouse while escorting her to a restroom for a urine sample. Then she said he raped her with his finger after she had been placed in a bed and given pain medicine that made her drowsy.

According to court documents, the woman said Altvater stopped the assault when a nurse entered the room, but he resumed when the nurse left — despite the alleged victim’s protests.

When she was discharged, the woman told police, Altvater slipped a note with his name and cell phone number into her pocket and whispered, “Call me.”

She did, Rasmussen said in an affidavit — with two police officers listening on a speaker phone. The woman allegedly reminded Altvater of what he had done, and he replied, “Yes, I remember that. I enjoyed it.”

Then, according to the affidavit, Altvater asked for a date on New Year’s Eve.

Altvater allegedly admitted the sexual assault when an officer confronted him with an account of the telephone call and the note the woman said he gave her.

“There goes my job and my marriage,” Altvater allegedly told the officer.

Court documents say Altvater claimed his marriage was failing anyway, and the hospital patient groped him first — which she denied.

State law prohibits sex acts between health care providers and patients, regardless of who instigated it.

Hospital officials were not immediately available for comment on Altvater’s employment status.