A former worker at Torrance State Hospital has been charged with institutional sexual assault and three counts of indecent assault for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a mentally-challenged female patient in December.
61-year-old Donald Pepley of Johnstown worked as a psychiatric aide at the hospital. According to Greensburg-based state police, another aide walked into the 42-year-old victim’s room on the night of December 12th and saw Pepley with one hand under the woman’s bedsheet and the other hand holding his phone with pornographic images displayed on it. The woman was “visibly upset”, according to the witness, and in a later interview with a state trooper and hospital staff, she told them that Pepley had “hurt (her)”.
Pepley was arraigned yesterday before District Judge Mark Bilik and denied the charges. He’s free on $10,000 unsecured bond and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 21st.
