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Cheryl, right, talks with attorney Michael Young at the law office of Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Standard-Examiner

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A sign identifies Ogden Regional Medical Center in Ogden on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Standard-Examiner

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A sign identifies Ogden Regional Medical Center in Ogden on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Standard-Examiner

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A sign identifies Ogden Regional Medical Center in Ogden on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

Jared Lloyd, Standard-Examiner

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A hospital is considered to be a place of refuge where individuals can go to be taken care of in times of injury or ill health.

But at least three women who went to Ogden Regional Medical Center in Washington Terrace in recent years allegedly experienced sexual abuse and trauma instead of healing.

Cheryl (who has requested to only be identified by her first name) is one of those women. She filed a civil lawsuit last week seeking $30 million in damages, alleging that over a period of several years a hospital security guard repeatedly sexually assaulted vulnerable female patients while they were receiving care in the emergency department and other units and that the hospital and HSS Inc., the contracted security provider, failed to prevent the assaults despite complaints and warning signs.

Other litigation from other complainants is pending and — although no charges have been filed to this point — both the litigants and the hospitals indicated criminal investigations are ongoing as well.

Cheryl said in an interview with the Standard-Examiner last week that filing the lawsuit is a significant step in what has been a long and painful journey.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Cheryl said. “It’s been four years of wondering when this is all going to come to head, and it’s finally here. It has taken a huge weight off my shoulders. What I went through four years ago was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, and it should never have happened.”

Attorney Michael Young of the office of Parson Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City is representing Cheryl in the litigation and said that he believes the two organizations need to be held accountable for allowing patients in their care to be assaulted.

“What I think is really salient about this particular case is the level of institutional failures across two corporations,” Young said. “HCA Healthcare is one of the largest hospital systems in the United States, if not the world. HSS is a national corporation that holds itself out as the expert in providing security in hospital settings. But when these two large corporations were presented with clear and unmistakable evidence that a security guard posed a threat to patients at Ogden Regional Medical Center, they chose to protect themselves and to ignore the problems. I think that really highlights the failures here, in this case.”

Ogden Regional Medical Center responded to a request for comment by issuing a statement clarifying the organization’s current position on the allegations, saying: “The allegations against the former contractor are deeply disturbing. While the individual has not been criminally charged, we have assisted law enforcement during the course of their investigation into this individual.

“Our current administration will continue to work with the third-party contractor that hires and supervises security personnel to ensure the right procedures and processes are in place to protect those who seek our care.”

Tarian Group, which acquired HSS in 2022, also issued an official statement, saying: “While it is the policy of HSS and Tarian not to comment on the specifics of pending litigation, we take allegations of this nature seriously. The safety and well-being of the communities we serve remain our paramount priority.

“HSS denies any wrongdoing in this matter and stands behind its commitment to providing a safe environment for its clients. As this remains an active legal proceeding, we will have no further statement at this time.”

Allegations of a pattern of abuse

The complaint, which was officially filed on March 17, alleges that Robert Rich was a security officer at Ogden Regional Medical Center who assaulted at least two women at the hospital in 2020 and 2021. He used his position and institutional knowledge of the facility to access and assault his victims, according to the lawsuit.

Filing documents allege that both the hospital and the security company were informed of the alleged assaults and criminal investigation but elected to focus on legal action and allowed Rich to maintain his position, which was still the case when Cheryl was admitted to the hospital in March 2022.

The lawsuit alleges that Rich proceeded to sexually assault Cheryl on multiple occasions and in multiple locations, with her complaints being ignored by the hospital.

“You go there (to a hospital) to get the help that you need, and you’re so vulnerable,” Cheryl said. “You’re expecting to be treated and be safe and be able to go through what you’re going through, no matter what it is or why you’re there. Did I think that the hospital knew about any of this prior to me? Not for a second did I think that. And it blew me away when I found out about (the other victims). I was so crushed, and so I felt betrayed.”

Young explained that he believes there is an enormous amount of evidence to back up the claims set down in the lawsuit but said the pattern should’ve been stopped long before Cheryl was admitted to the hospital.

“We had the benefit of video evidence,” Young said. “We had the benefit of police reports. We had the benefit of records. As we start piecing those together and comparing them with our clients’ accounts of what happened, it became really clear that not only were they telling the truth, but that there were points of intervention along the way where the hospital or the security company could have stepped in and prevented the harm to someone like Cheryl. It’s an extremely compelling case from the legal side of things, but a terrible tragedy in terms of what happened to Cheryl.”

Life-changing trauma

Cheryl said that going through what she went through changed her and it continues to be challenging for her to deal with everything that happened.

“It’s a very lonely feeling,” she said. “I went through so many emotions these past four years, up and down, trying to love the person that I am now. I was such an outgoing person before, someone who was always around people and wanted to do things. But this changed me. It ruined my perspective on every single person I would meet. What are their motives? I isolated all the time. It’s taken a long time to get where I’m at now, being a strong person and being able to talk about it.”

Young believes it is important for everyone to recognize that damage that abuse causes and that it should be taken seriously.

“When you’re a victim of a sexual assault and one as terrible as what she went through, there is a lot of self-doubt,” Young said. “There is a lot of disbelief. I think for her in particular, coming forward and speaking out is a way for her to tell other women that she believes them, that there are people that will believe them, that they won’t be ignored. And I think that’s important.”

Accountability for inaction and ignoring warning signs

Young talked about how safety for patients in places like hospitals has been an area of emphasis from a legal standpoint for a long time.

“Hospital safety is a highly regulated sort of industry,” he said. “You have federal regulations that apply, you have federal statutes that apply, you have state statutes that apply as well as best practices from experts in the field and accreditation bodies.

“Understanding of the risk that patients like Cheryl have in a hospital setting is not new. This is something that’s been looked at for a long time. It’s been studied, and there are really clear requirements about how these institutions should behave. This isn’t sort of a case of, well, we didn’t know how to protect these patients. They knew, and they just weren’t doing it.”

He said that financial accountability in the form of lawsuits can sometimes be the most effective way to force companies to fix problems and do things the right way.

“Monetary accountability is sort of the language that I think corporations speak,” Young said. “I don’t think anyone begrudges a hospital system or a security system or a security company for making money in what they do. Accordingly, when you don’t do your job well, you have to be held accountable.

“I do think that here, though, where you have a hospital that is part of a community, and there is a trust between the members of the community and that hospital, that accountability also comes by way of speaking up. And you speak up through civil litigation. You speak up by saying, ‘This happened to me, it’s not OK, and it needs to change.'”

Cheryl believes that it is vital that both patients and caregivers identify what is appropriate and what is dangerous.

“People should need to be aware that a security officer is not allowed to go in your room and just sit there,” she said. “Anybody that’s in the hospital who sees something like that needs to report it. Some might think it’s OK because he is a security officer, but it’s not OK. Unless you are being aggressive and need to be physically restrained, there’s not one hospital where there should be any kind of officer in your room.”

Standing up for victims

One of the reasons Cheryl said she mustered the courage to come forward and talk about her experience is that she believes there are other victims out there who were assaulted like she was.

“I knew that there had been other women,” she said. “I told my detectives there were other women. I know there were. He was too calm and too arrogant about it. He just knew he was going to get away with it.

“One of the main things I want to get out there is that if there is another victim out there, or someone who has been through this at that hospital with that same security officer, to come forward, because it’s really hard to do.”

She wants all abuse victims to know that although it may feel like it, they are not alone.

“My hope in doing this is that someone will see this that has been through what I’ve been through and realize that there’s no shame in any of this,” Cheryl said. “They did nothing wrong. I wanted to know that there are people there who will support them through this. That’s why I’m putting my face out there, letting them know that if I can do it and come forward, they can do it and come forward. There’s always going to be someone there.”