Former Abington Rehab Patient Pleads Guilty To Drugging Man Unconscious And Raping Him

ABINGTON, PA — A former patient at a local rehab center pleaded guilty earlier this week to charges that he gave a sedative to a fellow patient at the facility and then raped the man while he was unconscious, according to court records and news reports.

Pasquale E. Neri, 62, whose address is listed as Philadelphia, entered an open guilty plea Tuesday before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Henry S. Hilles, III, to charges of rape of an unconscious person and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, court records show.

The Mercury newspaper of Pottstown, citing a police criminal complaint, said Neri was arrested in late 2019 after Abington police were dispatched to the Brookside Nursing Home in the Roslyn section of the township for a report of a patient who had been sexually assaulted under while under heavy sedation.

Nursing staff employees said they were making their rounds on Nov. 29, 2019, when they walked into the room and witnessed Neri performing a sex act on the unconscious patient, who was found to be under the influence of a sedating medication that Neri had a prescription for, according to the Mercury's account.

The victim reportedly has Down Syndrome.

Court records show that Detective Shawn R. Nisbet of the Abington Police Department was the arresting officer in the case.

Records show that Neri was also originally charged with a second felony — rape of a substantially impaired person — along with a second-degree misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person.

The Mercury reported that Neri could be looking at a potential sentence of between 25 to 50 years in state prison, which, at his age, could be a potential life sentence.