Former nurse accused of lewd act involving patient avoids jail, sex offender registry with plea deal

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A former nurse at Florida Hospital East accused of a committing a lewd act on a disabled patient has taken a plea deal in the case that will keep him out of jail and off the Florida Sex Offender Registry.

Edward Robinson, 49, was accused in June by a woman who was at the hospital for a mental evaluation of touching her inappropriately and performing a sex act on himself.

He was originally charged with lewd and lascivious molestation upon a disabled person.

His trial was scheduled to start Monday, but was canceled after he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of battery and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.

According to court records, the 55-year-old victim was admitted to the hospital on June 23, 2016, under the Baker Act and was “under severe mental and physical disability and therefore she was an extremely vulnerable patient.”

Robinson was in the room watching the victim and another patient and the incident happened after the other woman was taken from the room, court records said.

At that point, Robinson groped the victim, tried taking her clothes off and performed a sex act on himself, court records said.

WFTV legal analyst Bill Scheaffer said that there must have been issues with the prosecution’s case to reduce the charges against Robinson so drastically.

“This is uncommon, and I think the state did what they did because there were evidentiary issues that they couldn’t overcome,” Scheaffer said.

As part of the plea deal, Robinson will serve a year of probation, undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation, will have to submit his DNA to the court and will not be allowed to work or volunteer in hospitals or nursing homes.

The Florida Surgeon General placed an emergency restriction on Robinson’s nursing license in October which prevented him from having interactions with female patients.

According to a hospital spokesperson at the time, Robinson was no longer an employee of Florida Hospital East.

Robinson and the hospital are still facing a civil suit filed by the victim.

The civil lawsuit was filed by the victim on March 10.

When asked for comment outside his home Monday, Robinson told Channel 9 that he was innocent but took the plea deal because he was too poor to fight the charges.

Cox Media Group