Judge orders $1 Million bail for Mission Hospital EMT accused of raping patient

  Mission hospital worker accused of raping a patient is now being held on $1 million bail, a county judge ruled this morning.

Jesse Karim Pena was taken into custody at his mother’s home in Ontario after DNA found on the victim’s hospital gown linked him to the assault, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

If the 31-year-old emergency medical technician is able to post bail, the judge also ruled he must at least 200 yards away from the alleged victim. Her identity has not been publicly released. Meanwhile, authorities today said there may be additional victims considering the suspect worked as a contractor for several hospitals across four counties, including Orange County.

Authorities said the 31-year-old female victim was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital just after midnight on Feb. 21. While being treated at the hospital, the woman told authorities she was raped but was unable to resist. According court documents, the victum claimed she was unable to resist the attack because she was druged and was under, an unknowned anesthetic.

Three EMTs were found to have had access to the woman’s room at the hospital and authorities took DNA samples from the three men, Amormino said. Last week, the DNA sample from the gown come back and was found to match Pena.

“We’re dealing with someone who is so bold as to do this in a hospital,” said prosecutor Tony Ferrentino.

As of today, no new victims have surfaced and investigators are working to find which hospitals Pena has worked in.

Pena was working as an independent contractor EMT and has worked intermittently at Mission Hospital since 2006, Amormino said. He is also believed to have worked at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside and South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach. He has also worked at other hospitals in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange County, Amormino said.

Pena is expected to appear back in court for an arraignment on July 7.

Anyone with information is asked to contact sheriff’s officials at 866-847-6273 or Supervising District Attorney Investigators Randy Litwin at 714-347-8794.

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