Former nursing aide sentenced for sexually assaulting patients

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BRIDGEPORT — His voice cracking with emotion, a former nursing aide at St. Vincent’s Medical Center apologized for the first time Friday for sexually assaulting seven male hospital patients during a three-year period.

“I apologize. I’m very sorry for the pain I caused the victims. Please forgive me,” Gonzalo Flores told state Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin as he waited to be sentenced to 15 years in prison for his crimes.

But his apology rang hollow for his victims.

“He is a monster who should never be let out,” said Martin Chalecki, a former Red Cross first responder who was sexually assaulted by Flores in February 2014 while he was a patient in the hospital.

A statement was read from a Fairfield father of two who was sexually assaulted by Flores in 2013.

“I always thought of myself as a man’s man but he (Flores) has reduced me to thinking of myself as a ball of flesh for his sexual pleasure,” he stated. “I hope he is locked away for the rest of his life b ecause I am locked away for the rest of mine by his actions.”

The 54-year-old Flores has tested positive for HIV and Edward Gavin, who represents a Bridgeport man victimized by Flores, told the judge his client is concerned about his future health.

Flores’ lawyer, Frederick Paoletti, urged the judge for a more lenient sentence, pointing out that Flores accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault so his victims did not have to testify at a trial.

Flores pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five male patients at the hospital. Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Harry explained that Flores had been accused of sexually assaulting seven patients at the hospital since late 2011, but two of the incidents were beyond the statute of limitation for prosecution.

“I have reviewed Mr. Flores’ work history and the letters from his sisters, and I am aware he was a good son to his mother,” Devlin began, as Flores stared at the floor sniffling back tears. “But this crime overwhelms all that. When you go to the hospital for a serious medical condition, you are vulnerable, and in this case there was an exploitation of that vulnerability for your own perverse sexual pleasure.”

The judge sentenced Flores to 20 years, suspended after he serves 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation. Flores has to register as a sex offender.

The hospital faces nearly $100 million in lawsuits by the victims, who claim the hospital kept Flores in a position where he could assault patients even after getting a complaint from a patient that he had been sexually assaulted by Flores.

Flores was fired by the hospital in June 2014, after police said a 47-year-old Fairfield man complained that he had woken from a medically induced coma to find Flores fondling his privates.