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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Police: Ex-nurse recorded himself sexually assaulting patients

By Michael Levenson and McKenna Oxenden New York Times

A former nurse at a Colorado hospital has been charged with sexually abusing female patients while they were unconscious and with recording the assaults on video, police said.

The former nurse, Christopher P. Lambros, 61, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault, according to the Grand Junction Police Department. He worked for 10 years at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, which is about 130 miles west of Aspen, until he was fired after his arrest in October, the hospital said.

Authorities have recovered about four terabytes of data – the equivalent of about 700,000 cellphone photos or about 65,000 hours of video – from Lambros’ devices, according to a class-action lawsuit against the hospital and the nonprofit organization that operates it. The suit was filed on behalf of two patients who said they were abused by Lambros.

The evidence, which includes sexually explicit videos, shows that Lambros’ sexual misconduct dates back to at least 2016, the lawsuit said.

Daniel P. Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney, said Lambros had been charged with sexually assaulting two female patients and that prosecutors planned to “add more counts to one of the victims, and more victims,” once the investigation was completed.

Lambros, who was arrested Oct. 25, has not yet entered a plea and remains in jail on $1 million bond, Rubinstein said. Lambros’ lawyer, Scott Burrill, who is with the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, could not be immediately reached at phone numbers listed under his name Saturday. The office says on its website that its policy is to not comment on criminal cases.

Intermountain Healthcare, the organization that operates St. Mary’s Medical Center, said in a statement that the “safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we take this matter very seriously.”

“We have zero tolerance for anyone who engages in the abuse or mistreatment of our patients,” the statement said. “Immediately following the reported concern, the hospital placed Chris Lambros on administrative leave, removed his access to the hospital and patients and reported the matter to local law enforcement.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.