By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
An emergency room technician at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro allegedly sexually assaulted a female patient in June and forced another female patient to sexually touch him on Friday, according to law enforcement authorities.
Edher Osorio, 30, was arrested Saturday at 11:09 a.m. at his Princeton home, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan said Sunday.
Mr. Osorio, charged with sexual assault in the first incident and criminal sexual contact in the other, was sent to the Middlesex County Correctional Facility in lieu of $200,000 bail.
It was not immediately known when his first court appearance will be.
The first victim, a 36-year-old woman, was brought to the emergency room in June for an undisclosed medical condition, authorities said.
Mr. Osorio allegedly committed the most recent offense on a 60-year-old woman taken to the emergency room Friday at 10:30 p.m., also for an undisclosed medical condition, Mr. Kaplan’s office said.
Both alleged crimes occurred in the emergency room, although Mr. Kaplan’s office would not disclose if Mr. Osorio was alone with his victims or if there was internal surveillance video at the hospital that recorded what had transpired.
Jim O’Neill, a spokesman for Mr. Kaplan, said Monday that the victims immediately reported the offenses to the hospital, which then contacted law enforcement after each incident. But Mr. O’Neill could not explain why Mr. Osorio was allowed to work at the hospital after the first alleged incident in June.
"We are fully cooperating with the police investigation, and are unable to comment on the case," the hospital said in a statement Monday.
Later in the day Monday, the hospital released a second statement, this one in response to why Mr. Osorio was allowed to keep working at the hospital despite the previous accusation.
"In June of 2012, a patient complained that a (hospital) employee had inappropriate sexual contact with her. The Plainsboro police and the Middlesex County Sex Crimes Unit conducted a thorough investigation and did not find reason to charge the employee with a crime.
"The employee was an employee in good standing at that time. As is our practice, we had conducted a thorough pre-employment reference check and criminal background check, and he had passed both. At the time of the investigation, the employee had no record of criminal conduct or of patient complaints and had not been charged with a crime. He was allowed to return to work when the investigation was completed."
The ongoing investigation into Mr. Osorio is being handled by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Plainsboro Police. Police Chief Guy Armour did not return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
Authorities asked that anyone with information on the case contact either Detective Melissa Terpanick of the Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3600 or Detective Martin McElrath of the Plainsboro Police at 609-799-2333.

