Psychiatric patient at Jamaica Plain hospital indicted on rape charges

A patient at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain has been indicted on charges that he twice raped a 14-year-old hospital volunteer, prosecutors said yesterday.

Vernon Lee Thompson, 38, is tentatively set to be arraigned Friday in Suffolk Superior Court. A hearing scheduled for yesterday was postponed.

Prosecutors said Thompson, a psychiatric patient, raped the girl in a hospital stairwell on the afternoon of July 10. The girl was serving in the hospital's Junior Volunteers Program.

The rapes allegedly occurred after the girl finished her shift and was walking from the hospital's main building to the personnel office.

As she made a phone call from the lobby of the main building, Thompson allegedly "pulled her into his arms" and "tried to kiss her, and she pulled away," prosecutors said.

They said he pursued her into a stairwell "where he forcibly pulled her toward him again" and raped her.

Prosecutors added that at the same time a nurse walked down the stairs but did not stop Thompson.

They said another witness later "saw the defendant with his arm around the victim and separated them."

A lawyer representing Thompson could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In a statement, Kristina Barry, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said, "The Department of Public Health is cooperating with public safety officials who have charged a former Shattuck Hospital patient with sexual assault on a young volunteer at the hospital in early July. The safety of our staff, volunteers and patients is our highest priority."

Prosecutors said the girl disclosed the rape to a family member and was taken to the pediatric emergency room at Boston Medical Center.

Thompson was first arraigned for the charges July 29 in West Roxbury Municipal Court. He was held on $100,000 cash bail.