A second southwest Florida woman has come forward claiming she was also raped by former Cape Coral Hospital nurse, Jeovanni Hechavarria.
The Florida Department of Health has placed a restriction on Hechavarria's license after allegations he raped a 43 year old patient he was supposed to care for in late 2016. The restriction allows him to work or be in contact with female patients as long as he has another hospital employee with him in the room. Hechavarria has not been arrested or charged for these allegations but since then has been fired from Lee Health.
Since Four In Your Corner broke this story, a 20 year old woman reached out to recount her experience from March 2015.
"People need to know who this guy is," Brianna Hammer said. "I just want him to be where he should be."
Hammer told Four In Your Corner she wanted to publicly share her experience because she felt her claim wasn't taken seriously when she first reported the attack.
"I just don't want it to happen to anyone else," Hammer said. "I couldn't live with myself if this happened to a 5-year old kid."
Hechavarria was the nurse in charge of taking care of Hammer in March 2015.
"He was touching me in places he shouldn't have been touching me," she said.
Hammer says Hechavarria told her he would be taking her vitals and complete a routine evaluation.
"He then spread my legs open to look in between my legs to see if there was anything unusual," she said. "I said I was uncomfortable and that I wanted him to leave the room."
Hammer says she was awakened by Hechavarria later that night disturbed by his actions.
"I woke up three hours later to him on top of me with his fingers inside of me and I looked at him and said 'what are you doing?' And he said, 'Oh, don't worry about it nobody will ever know.'
Hammer says at first she was afraid to report what happened at the hospital but then called her fiance and mother to advise her what to do.
"Both of them called the hospital and hospital didn't take them seriously. They thought it was a prank," she said.
Records show Hammer filed a report with Cape Coral Police but she says she felt the officer didnt take her complaint seriously.
"The male officer looked at me to my face like I was lying the whole time I was talking to him," Hammer said.
The report shows the officer states hammer had "many inconsistencies with her story" and that because of "her poor account of what happened" and "a lack of evidence" he found no crime took place.
The State Attorney's Office denied a warrant request for charges of sexual battery and a second degree felony was denied for insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Two years later, Hammer is sitting with Four In Your Corner recounting what happened.
"I was under strict orders so you couldn't come into my room unless you were wearing a gown, gloves, and a mask. He was wearing all those things when he was doing all those things to me," she said.
Hammer says she told the police officer, a hospital supervisor and a security officer there was evidence that may have been helpful during their investigation.
"They said they were going to speak with the nurse themselves and they'll be right back. Five minutes after they left, a cleaning lady came in the room and she took the garbage out. I told her to leave the garbage because it needed to stay there and she said 'oh, i need to take it out.' and I couldn't get out of the bed because I have an IV in me."
Hammer says she was told they were unable to find the bag with Hechavarria's gown, mask, and gloves anywhere.
Four In Your Corner obtained transcripts between a detective and Hechavarria as well as the transcripts for the recorded interview between the detective and Hammer.
The transcript between the detective and Hechavarria shows Hechavarria eventually speculates the young woman was trying to sue the hospital for personal gains, saying, "I know that the investigators for Lee Memorial Health System told me that I'm not the first that they've had this happen to. I'm not the first male. I'm not even the first nurse. They said it's also happened to female nurses numerous times."
Four In Your Corner has tried reaching out to Hechavarria's home to get his side of the story after two allegations have come forward.
Hammer has given permission to share her experience in case there are other alleged victims to come forward.
If you have been a victim of rape or sexual abuse, please call the Abuse, Counseling, and Treatment Center's 24-Hour Hotline 239-939-3112.
Emergency Shelter 239-939-3112
