Man Who Raped Fellow Nursing Home Patient Gets 10-20-Year Prison Term

ABINGTON, PA — A former nursing home patient in this eastern Montgomery County town is heading to prison for up to two decades after a judge sentenced him last week to time behind bars for raping a fellow patient at the facility.

Pasquale Neri, 62, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 10-to-20 years in state prison on April 13 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Henry S. Hilles, III, according to authorities and court records.

Abington Township Police arrested Neri in late 2019 after police investigated a report of a patient who had been sexually assaulted.

Detectives ultimately determined that Neri had given a fellow male patient a sedative and then raped the man while the victim was unconscious, Patch previously reported.

Neri pleaded guilty in October of last year to charges of rape of an unconscious person and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, both felonies.

Court records show that other criminal charges had been previously dropped in exchange for the guilty plea on the two felony counts.

According to media reports, Neri's victim was said to have had Down Syndrome.

Neri had been confined to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility pending last Thursday's sentencing.

Court records show that after sentencing, Hilles ordered that Neri be immediately transferred to state prison, "because of his medical issues," although records did not specify the nature of Neri's ailment or ailments. The judge recommended placement at the State Correctional Institution — Rockview, which is located in central Pennsylvania.

In addition to the prison term, Hilles ordered that Neri comply with Megan's Law sexual offender registration requirements.

Prior media reports, citing the criminal complaint in the case, said that Neri was found sexually assaulting the victim when nurses walked into the victim's room while performing their regular rounds at the nursing home.

Neri reportedly drugged the victim using a sedative for which Neri possessed a prescription.