Watch CBS News

LAPD Hunts Hospital Worker Accused Of Molesting Patients

TARZANA (CBS) — A hospital worker accused of sexually assaulting multiple female patients is believed to have fled to Guatemala, and one LAPD detective says she won't give up on capturing him.

Ramon Eduardo Rodas Gaspar confessed to sexual crimes against several women before skipping bail, says Detective Ninette Toosby. She says 11 victims have been identified.

Courtney Rosenberg was twenty-nine-years-old when she was admitted to the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in 2006 for the removal of an ovarian cyst.

Gaspar was working as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the hospital and Rosenberg was his patient. She says what she initially appreciated as attentiveness quickly turned creepy.

"He was lifting my gown and checking the incisions and looking around," says Rosenberg. "And you know, trying to tell me he was checking to make sure it was healing ok."

Rosenberg says Gaspar prohibited her from tying the back of her hospital gown, and would watch her when she got up to go to the restroom.

"When he would check my heart monitors, it was like he would pull my gown down and leave my breast exposed," says Rosenberg. She says Gaspar began to say things like, "Come to Papa."

As Rosenberg prepared to leave the hospital, she says Gaspar offered to help her get dressed.

"He had exposed me and left me undressed on the bed while he was getting my things," says Rosenberg. "And then he came back over, and he said that he was going to check for bleeding. And all of a sudden I felt this pain down there. And I looked down and I saw that his hand was down there, his finger was inside of me and there was no gloves on."

Detective Toosby says the primary charges against Gaspar are for digital penetration.

Toosby says Gaspar preyed on his victims "mostly post-surgery, when the women are vulnerable, they're in pain, they might be a little out of it because they're on medication, or coming out of surgery and that  was the opportunity for him to do it then."

Detective Toosby placed Gaspar under arrest, but he posted bail and disappeared.

"I believe he's in Guatemala," says Toosby.

Rosenberg sued the hospital, claiming other victims had complained for years before she was assaulted, but nothing was done.

According to the lawsuit, a hospital employee in Sept. 2004 "complained about Gaspar grabbing her breasts and holding her in a sexual manner against her will."  

At least nine patients are said to have reported fondling and sexual assault by Gaspar in 2005.

Rosenberg's lawsuit claimed the hospital destroyed incident records.

"I feel that he was enabled to continue to keep doing what he did," says Rosenberg. "And that the number of his victims continuously has risen thru the years."

In November, a jury deliberated for less than an hour before awarding Rosenberg $2.36 million in compensatory damages and another $65 million against the hospital in punitive damages.

"The jury was really angry, they were trying to say the obvious," says Rosenberg's attorney, Michael Piuze. "That when a hospital promises  to keep you safe and when hospital people come into court with their hands in the air and swear to tell the truth and say safety is the most important thing, and then their actions demonstrate that they're just empty words, the jury wanted to put an end to that and said so. "

Tenet Healthcare, the company that owned the hospital when Courtney Rosenberg was a patient, denied a request for an on camera interview, but instead offered a written response to the verdict.

"We are shocked by the size of the punitive damages," says the statement. "We intend to appeal, and believe there are many points on which an appeal can be based."

Piuze says the appeal could drag on for years.

As Rosenberg tries to rebuild her life, she says Gaspar's presence haunts her at every turn.

"I remember his cologne," says Rosenberg. "It was very strong. And I was in the grocery store with a friend, and coincidentally the person in front of me had that cologne on and the smell just made me have flashbacks. I had to leave the market.

Rosenberg says images of Gaspar even disturb her dreams.

Toosby says she too is haunted by a sexual predator who escaped justice. She says she will never stop searching for the confessed criminal.

When asked if she thinks she will ever capture Gaspar, Toosby says, "I believe I will. I believe I will."

The hospital is now owned by Providence Healthcare. The company was not involved with the facility during Gaspar's employment.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.