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Nursing assistant on the run after rape charge

10:32 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 23, 2006

KING5.com

SEATTLE – A King County nursing assistant is on the run after being charged with second-degree rape.

Lamin Darboe, a 39-year-old nursing assistant, was working at Kindred Hospital in Seattle. He is accused of taking advantage of a stroke victim who is paralyzed and cannot speak.
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Elisa Hahn reports on Darboe's history

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The 31-year-old woman can communicate only by nodding her head.

According to police, the assaults happened over a one-month period starting last June.

The abuse was discovered when the patient's friend came to visit and saw Darboe giving the patient a sponge bath.

According to court documents, the friend asked if the patient "was comfortable with a man giving her a bath."

She "vigorously shook her head to indicate no and started to cry."

Investigators soon learned that nursing assistant Daraboe had allegedly raped her four to 12 times. Once he "put a towel over her face during one of the rapes."

KING 5 News has learned that in 2001, Darboe was charged with third-degree rape in Marysville, but the charge was dismissed.

In 2002, he was fired from Swedish Medical Center for inappropriate behavior with two patients.

In 2003, he was charged in Snohomish County with rape, robbery and kidnapping, but was acquitted.

The Health Department says there are five nursing assistants in King County with the same name, all about the same age.

This Lamin Darboe has had his license suspended. He is believed to have fled to his home country of The Gambia.

Swedish Hospital says they sent a letter about Darboe to the Department of Health in 2002, but a DOH spokesperson told KING 5 Wednesday they had no prior complaints against Darboe.

In a written statement, Kindred Hospital says it is cooperating with police and fired Darboe as soon as the allegations surfaced.