A crime against an emergency room patient was “hideous” and “disgusting” and may include victims in San Diego, investigators said.
Jesse Pena, 31, was arrested Thursday in Orange County for raping a 31-year-old female patient while she was unconscious in a hospital bed last February, according to Sheriff's investigators.
Pena worked as a technician in the emergency room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
The woman, who is being referred to as Jane Doe in the criminal complaint, woke up, felt she'd been assaulted and called 9-1-1. This week, DNA test results matched Pena to the crime.
Jena was hired through a hospital staffing company called Clinical Staffing Services, based in Santa Ana. Investigators say he's worked at several other hospitals including at least one in San Diego.
"I do not believe that he has any criminal history,” Orange County Sheriff's Dept. spokesperson Jim Amormino said. “But somebody that would commit a crime as hideous and disgusting as that… there is a good chance there are additional victims."
Sheriff's investigators are not yet saying which San Diego hospital he worked at, but want anyone who recognizes him, and believes they are a victim, to come forward.
