The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Multnomah County judge sentenced a former paramedic to five years in prison for inappropriately touching female patients during ambulance trips.
Judge Leslie Roberts also sentenced Lannie Lee Haszard to five years of probation and ordered him to register as a sex offender following his release.
Haszard, 62, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree sexual abuse.
The abuse became public after a 28-year-old single mother of three reported what Haszard had done to her last December.
The woman said she passed out in her Portland home and one of her children called for help. She said Haszard fondled her as she lay in a semiconscious state.
“I wasn’t all the way awake, but I was aware of what was happening around me,” the woman said. “That’s what bothers me the most. It was like watching somebody do something to me and I couldn’t do anything.”
Once at the hospital, the woman remembers waking and screaming when Haszard entered her room. Hospital staff told her she imagined what happened, but she demanded that police be called.
“He was the first to believe me,” she said of the Portland police officer.
After the woman’s story hit the news, several other victims came forward to report abuse by Haszard. They ranged from 28 to 73 years old.
Three of the them attended Monday’s hearing with family sitting by their sides.
“The one thing they all had in common was they’re all in the back of the ambulance with Lannie Haszard,” Deputy district attorney Donald Rees said.
Haszard, who lost his job with American Medical Response and his professional certification, did not speak at the hearing.
The single mother and two other victims are suing Haszard and AMR, The Oregonian newspaper reported.