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Hospital Assault Inquiry Opened

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

TAMPA - The state Agency for Health Care Administration is investigating an incident at St. Joseph's Hospital this week in which police accused a 39-year-old homeless man being treated in the psychiatric ward of raping a female psychiatric patient.
Thomas Kelly Bolduc was held without bail at Orient Road Jail on Friday. He is charged with two felony counts of sexual battery.

The 32-year-old woman was attacked at the hospital at 3001 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Investigators said Bolduc forced the woman to the floor of the bathroom in her room, where he held a hand over her mouth, raped her twice and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

The woman reported the attack to hospital staff, who called police and the Department of Children & Families, said Lorraine Lutton, the hospital's chief operating officer. DCF was contacted because the patient is considered a "vulnerable adult" under their guidelines, she said.

The hospital is conducting its own review, she said, adding that it is too early to say whether the incident will change hospital policy.

AHCA has opened its own investigation, spokeswoman Shelisha C. Durden, said Friday. "We take this type of incident very seriously," she wrote in an e-mail response to a reporter's inquiry.

According to police, the woman told detectives she recognized Bolduc as the person who stays in the room across the hall from her. Investigators found physical evidence at the scene, police said. They also noted the woman's arm was bruised where Bolduc had held her down.

Officers arrested Bolduc about 9:20 p.m. Thursday after consulting with prosecutors, in part because of the man's and the woman's mental issues.
Lutton said the incident appears to have occurred during a 15-minute time frame between regular rounds that identify each patient's location.

The staff is reminding patients to alert the staff when someone breaks the rules, she said.

Public records show Bolduc has been in and out of state prisons from 1989 through 2006 on charges ranging from burglary to grand theft, mostly on convictions from Citrus County.

The hospital searches patients' belongings for weapons prior to admitting patients but does not review criminal records, Lutton said. "We have to treat whoever comes in regardless of their backgrounds," she said. "We're not a correctional facility."

Reporter Keith Morelli contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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