Saint Anthony Hospital employee charged with sexually abusing patients

A Saint Anthony Hospital employee has been charged with sexually abusing two of his patients, as Chicago police ask for other possible victims to come forward.

Kevin Childs, 30, was arrested Monday and charged with four counts of aggravated sex assault and two counts of sex abuse.

In court Wednesday, Judge Charles Beach ordered him held without bail, noting that the alleged victims had been in Childs’ care for treatment of serious medical conditions.

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“You are preying on the most weak of the community,” Beach said.

Cook County prosecutors said Childs was working as a patient care technician at the hospital when he sexually assaulted the two women.

On Jan. 25, Childs inappropriately touched a 52-year-old woman hospitalized for breathing issues while giving her a sponge bath, prosecutors said. She later told a nurse what happened and police were called and allegedly identified Childs in a photo lineup.

Earlier, on Jan. 18, Childs assaulted a 42-year-old woman being treated for COVID-19 and heroin withdrawal after telling her he had been instructed to bathe her, prosecutors said.

The woman called her husband to pick her up from the hospital. The discharge nurse noticed she was anxious and tried to convince her to stay to finish needed testing, but the woman checked herself out of the hospital.

A day later, the woman told a home healthcare worker and her husband about the abuse. She went to UIC Hospital and a sexual assault exam was given.

A spokesperson for St. Anthony did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Chicago police said the investigation into Childs was ongoing and anyone with information was asked to contact Area Four Violent Crimes division at (312) 746-8251 to file a report.

Childs has not made any admissions of guilt and prosecutors did not mention any physical evidence linking him to the assaults during the hearing, his defense attorney told the judge.

She asked for a reasonable bail, noting that Childs had known of the allegations, had not tried to flee and was about to start a new job.

Judge Beach said he believed there was no amount of bail that could ensure the community’s safety and further ordered Childs to have no contact with the victims or anyone at St. Anthony.

Childs was expected back in court April 11.