OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A healthcare worker at a Kissimmee hospital faces charges of abusing a disabled adult and unnatural and lascivious acts on a patient, according to an Osceola County arrest affidavit.
Deputies said they responded to HCA Hospital in Kissimmee on July 25 in reference to a sexual battery complaint.
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According to the affidavit, deputies met with the daughter of a woman who was admitted to the hospital due to having a stroke.
The woman said her mother was scheduled to have an MRI on the morning of July 22 and was picked up by a hospital staff member to transport her from the hospital room to the MRI examination room.
Deputies said the daughter stated that her mother tried to explain something to her after returning from the MRI, but that her mother had difficulty talking due to the stroke.
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After spending the night with her mother in the hospital on July 23, the woman said she woke up to the same staff member leaning over her mother, even though she was not scheduled for an MRI at that time.
Later on the same day, the woman said her mother was scheduled for another MRI and the same health care worker transported her mother to the examination.
According to the affidavit, after the woman returned from the MRI, she was able to speak better and said that the hospital worker was “trying to kiss her, sticking his tongue in her mouth, touching her left breast, and sucking her fingers” while she was being transported in the elevator on the way to the MRI.
The woman’s daughter was not able to be with her mother at the time of the alleged event, deputies said.
They reported the incident to hospital staff who were able to move the patient to another room on the same floor, next to the nurses’ desk, according to the affidavit.
The daughter told deputies the staff member goes by “Ricky” and described him as a Hispanic or Indian male with gray hair. She was also able to take a photograph of the man and provided the picture to deputies.
When deputies were able to interview the mother, she told them that on July 22 she was picked up by the same staff member that her daughter described. While in the elevator, the woman said that the man “started rubbing her face and lips, kissed her in the mouth as he touched his tongue on her lips, and touched her left breast.”
The woman said although she was drowsy at the time due to medication taken to help with anxiety for claustrophobia for the MRI, she still felt and observed the assault.
According to the affidavit, she further stated that the same staff member repeated the assault inside the elevator on the way back to her room from the MRI.
On Aug. 1, deputies said that Amarnauth “Ricky” Seonath, a hospital transportation staff member, agreed to come to the main sheriff’s office for an interview with law enforcement.
Deputies said Seonath provided several contradictory statements, including saying he never touched the woman at the start of the interview, and that the woman was asleep during transport, but videos show the woman “visibly awake” while she was being transported.
According to the affidavit, Seonath later admitted to “cupping her face and wiping away tears from her face because she was upset about not going home.”
Based on Seonath’s statement not being consistent with what was provided, deputies said they placed him under arrest and transported him to the Osceola County jail.
Seonath faces charges of abuse of a disabled adult with great bodily harm and unnatural and lascivious act, according to the affidavit.
A spokesperson from HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital released a statement on Tuesday evening that read:
“We continue to assist the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department with their investigation and this individual has been suspended.”
HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital
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