A former operating room director at Tri-City Medical Center was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison on burglary and sex crime-related charges, convicted of going to a staffer’s home intending to drug her with a surgical anesthetic and then sexually assault her.
Gary Johnson, 63, was convicted by a Vista Superior Court jury in August on charges of residential burglary and attempted sexual assault of an unconscious person. The verdict followed about a day of deliberations.
Judge Kelly Mok cited the “shocking and extremely serious set of facts” in sentencing Johnson, who must also register as a sex offender.
On April 14, Johnson showed up at the woman’s Oceanside apartment carrying a condom, a key to her front door, a rag and a bottle of a general anesthetic used in surgeries, according to authorities and testimony.
About 3 a.m., as the woman and her boyfriend watched television in the living room of her apartment, their attention was drawn to her patio. Her boyfriend opened the drapes and found a hooded man in dark clothes wearing gloves and a mask. As the intruder ran, he threw aside a bottle of anesthesia typically used before and during surgery. The boyfriend tackled him and police arrested him.
Before Mok handed down the sentence, the victim, identified in court as Jane Doe, made a tearful statement, speaking of the “depth of pain, suffering and consequences” she has suffered. She said she has been “crippled with fear” and no longer feels safe living alone. The incident, she said, “stole a sense of normalcy in my life.”
“He is truly the worst type of bad guy. He is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” the victim said in court.
Johnson was not her direct supervisor but was higher than her in the hospital hierarchy. The woman has previously testified that in the months leading up to the incident, Johnson had given her pricey gifts, sent her flowers and helped her with groceries. She said that he professed love, but she made it clear they were only friends.
Deputy District Attorney Claudia Plascencia said the woman made her boundaries clear in text exchanges with Johnson. Plascencia has also said there was evidence that the anesthesia had been taken from Tri-City.
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In a lengthy statement Monday, Johnson said he is “deeply sorry,” and that when he pictures himself on the patio that night, he is ashamed and embarrassed.
“I can neither explain nor justify my actions,” Johnson said, adding he had been “convinced it was OK to put my ill-fated plan into action. I ignored all the alarm bells.”
He also apologized to his wife and family, as well as to the Tri-City organization, and said trust was “exponentially ruined when I put my ridiculous plan into action.”
Mok cited serious mitigating and aggravating factors as she laid out the sentence for Johnson. She noted that he has no criminal history, suffered abuse as a child and that evaluations found him to be at low risk of committing new crimes. But the judge also weighed “protecting society and punishing the defendant.”
The judge noted the thousands of text messages between the defendant and victim in the weeks and months before the incident.