By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A former employee of two area hospitals on Wednesday afternoon stood handcuffed inside a mostly empty courtroom in New Brunswick to admit sexually assaulting two physically helpless female patients in 2013 and 2015., Richard D. Smith, 41, appeared to wipe tears from his eyes as a Middlesex County Superior Court judge read off all the conditions he would have to live under once he gets out prison sometime in his early 50s. He will be a Megan’s law offender, have to report his whereabouts to police, be parole supervised for life and meet other requirements — all for exploiting two women when he worked as a medical technician at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, in April 2013, and then in the same job at University Medical Center of Princeton in Plainsboro, in November 2015., Smith, of Princeton, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, charges that could have sent him to prison for life. Instead, the plea bargain he got from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office calls for him to get 12 years for each offense, to run concurrently, when he is sentenced June 30. He will have to serve 10 years and two months before becoming parole eligible., In court, Smith’s lawyer, assistant deputy public defender Susan M. Martin, walked him through a series of questions to lay the factual basis of his guilty plea., He admitted that when he was alone with the two victims, he had sexually assaulted them. Neither victim was in court., Middlesex County authorities arrested him Nov. 17, 2015, later learning of the earlier offense at RWJ, from April 30, 2013., In court, assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Falguni Patel said Smith had admitted touching a 5-year-old cousin when he was a teenager. Authorities investigated but are not prosecuting him., Smith, now bald and looking thinner than when he was arrested, left the courtroom to return to jail., His case was scheduled for the morning court session, but it did not get heard until the afternoon. There were indications that he would be taking a plea bargain, although Martin was looking for a later court date., Judge Diane Pincus pressed Martin on why the guilty plea could not be put through Wednesday, with the judge, the two lawyers and then a court staffer continuing the conversation outside the courtroom for several minutes., They emerged with the guilty plea going forward, although Martin had to spend time talking with Smith and having him fill out court papers.
