JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. – A 38-year-old psychiatric patient at Shattuck Hospital is being held on a $500,000 bond for allegedly raping a 14-year-old hospital volunteer.
Prosecutors said Vernon Lee Thompson befriended the junior volunteer during her first week at the facility. The girl gave Thompson her telephone number because he seemed lonely; however, when he started calling her, she became upset and immediately informed her father.
On July 10, Thompson reportedly raped the girl twice and forced her to perform oral sex on him in a stairway where security cameras were not present. A hospital employee saw the girl giving oral sex to Thompson, but instead of physically intervening, the employee told the pair to split up.
The hospital is being reviewed by the state health department. Additionally, the junior volunteer program was terminated.
Thompson has prior convictions, including lewdness, indecent exposure, trespassing, shoplifting, malicious destruction of property and making threats.
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