PHOENIX — Nathan Sutherland is being held in jail on $500,000 cash bond after Phoenix police arrested him for the sexual assault of an incapacitated patient of Hacienda Healthcare.
Phoenix police say the 36-year-old is the father of a baby born to the patient who has serious intellectual disabilities.
The woman gave birth on Dec. 29 at the facility located near 14th Street and Baseline Road, sparking a rape investigation by Phoenix police. Employees at the Phoenix facility reportedly did not know the woman was pregnant, as heard on a 911 call made the day of the birth.
Sutherland worked at the Hacienda Healthcare facility since 2012. The facility confirmed that his last shift was Jan. 20.
State records tell us Sutherland was a licensed practical nurse for a decade in Arizona. He had no complaints with the state nursing board. His record is clean, save for only a traffic ticket.
A web search shows Sutherland is also a Christian rapper. According to a biography on a webpage promoting his music, Sutherland and his sister were adopted from Haiti. In Sutherland’s initial court appearance Wednesday, his lawyer said Sutherland has been in Arizona since 1993.
In 2007, Sutherland tried to start a charitable organization to help with the homeless and developmentally disabled, according to documents from the Arizona Corporation Commission. There's no evidence that the organization went anywhere.
Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said speaking to the media Wednesday that Sutherland was responsible for providing care to the victim at Hacienda Healthcare at the time she would have conceived a child and at the time of the birth.
Court documents show that Sutherland's wife filed for divorce after six years of marriage on Dec. 5, 2018—just weeks before the woman gave birth.
Hacienda Healthcare released a statement Wednesday confirming Sutherland was terminated immediately after the facility learned of his arrest.
Police said officers arrested Sutherland Tuesday after his DNA sample, obtained when police issued a search warrant for DNA from all male Hacienda Healthcare employees, matched with the DNA of the baby. Sutherland was not arrested at Hacienda Healthcare or even at his home, but at his lawyer's office.
