Police arrest former Wishard employee accused of inappropriately touching unconscious patient

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested a former Wishard Memorial Hospital employee charged with inappropriately touching an unconscious female patient and videotaping the incident with his cell phone.

Folajuwoni Ajayi, 47, has been charged with trafficking with an inmate, voyeurism and battery.

According to court documents, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched to the hospital on Friday, Jan. 20 to investigate footage found on a cell phone discovered in the Sheriff’s Detention Unit at Wishard Hospital.

A corrections guard told the officers he found the phone on the floor and began searching through it to find the owner. During the search, the guard told police he discovered a video that showed a man touching an unconscious patient’s private areas.

According to court documents, the videotaped incident occurred in late August. The probable cause stated Ajayi was the care technician assigned to the female patient.

"What's really troubling is this woman was basically unconscious," said Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Richard Plath. "She had no idea that this had happened until, in fact, the investigators told her."

Police said Ajayi admitted the cell phone was his during police questioning. However, he said he was having issues with his phone and that it recorded video without his knowledge. Ajayi also denied knowing the patient in the video.

During a forensic examination of the phone, more than 40,000 photographs and 17 video recordings were found. According to court documents, several of the videos depicted sexual acts with unknown females.

"To be able to say where those came from is going to be very difficult. In other words, they could have been downloaded from the internet," Plath said. "We're only focused on the two videos."

Upon further review of the videos, police located another one shot the same day as the alleged incident in August. In the video, police noted Ajayi’s hospital identification card was visible.

Cell phone use is prohibited in the Sheriff’s Detention Unit at Wishard Hospital.

Wishard Hospital representatives turned down interview requests regarding Ajayi, but released the following statement:

"On Friday, January 20, 2012, Wishard employees were alerted to possible inappropriate conduct by a former staff member and immediately contacted local authorities. During the past week, Wishard has worked closely with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as they conducted the investigation that led to the charges filed today. Wishard is committed to providing safe, high quality care and has in place, and will continue to maintain, strong management practices to identify and immediately report any suspected wrongdoing."

Fox59’s Kent Erdahl contributed to this report