“On the morning of July 4, 2024, a female resident of the health care facility reported that [Meza] had come into her room and engaged in sexual contact with her and continued to do so after she told him to stop,” according to state records. Meza is facing multiple felony charges; court records show he is due for a pre-arraignment conference on November 13. According to RIDOH, they conducted their own investigation into the allegations. “Laura Serapiglia ("Serapiglia") testified on behalf of the Department. She testified that during the course of her investigation for the Department into this matter, she ascertained the discrepancy in the time between what time the resident thought the assault occurred and the time on the video showing [Meza] entering the resident's room was due to the room clock being inaccurate. She testified the resident would have been able to see the inaccurate clock from her bed. She also testified that she determined that the time [Meza] spent in the room at the time of the assault was longer than would have been needed for what he should have been doing for the resident and her roommate. She testified that it should have just taken a couple of minutes rather than 16 minutes for him to do the actual required duties in the room at that time,” according to RIDOH. “Based on the pleadings and the undisputed evidence, the Respondent sexually assaulted a patient while employed at a health care facility. The Respondent's actions violated R.I. Gen. Laws,” RIDOH continued. “A hearing was scheduled for October 16, 2024, at which time the [Meza] did not appear,” RIDOH added. On Wednesday, RIDOH spokesperson Joseph Wendelken clarified the department's authority to make its determination. "An administrative hearing officer determined that this person engaged in unprofessional conduct in violation of civil law and regulation by sexually assaulting a patient while employed at a healthcare facility," said Wendelken. "For licensing matters, RIDOH can adopt the decision of an administrative hearing officer, independent of any criminal proceedings."
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