
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995                   TAG: 9503160068
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NURSING AIDE'S SEX-ABUSE TRIAL POSTPONED

Trial has been delayed for a nursing assistant at Roanoke Memorial Hospital charged with sexually abusing a female patient who was under sedation after surgery.

Hubert Wayne Thompson had been scheduled to go on trial Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery. But the trial was continued until June 7, in part because of concerns that potential jurors might have been influenced by a newspaper article this week.

The article reported that Thompson previously had been accused of sexually abusing another patient at the hospital but was allowed to keep his job after receiving an oral reprimand and a warning to avoid female patients.

Thompson now works in the hospital's warehouse and materials department.

by CNB