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• Hudson -- Lopez sex assault charge dismissed

By Jon Echternacht

echter@rivertowns.net

A criminal sex assault charge against a Hudson care facility director has been dismissed.

The case against Carolyn Ann Lopez, 31, came to a halt when Judge Howard W. Cameron dismissed it at the conclusion of a May 22 pre-trial conference. She was charged with one felony count of second-degree sex assault.

A statement issued by R. Michael Waterman, defense attorney for Lopez, said that her accuser "had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia."

"After charges were filed against Lopez, her accuser admitted to police investigators he had delusions about having relationships with women," the attorney said.

The criminal complaint alleged between April 21 and Sept. 30 Lopez had sex with a 56-year-old male patient at Heartview Homes in the town of Hudson.

Lopez, owner and director of the facility, told investigators she did not have sex with the man. Court records said the patient was diagnosed with mental illness.

In a May 13 oral ruling, Judge Cameron ordered the medical records of the victim sealed and refused to allow the testimony of the alleged victim at a trial.

"The case was dismissed because the accuser refused to allow anyone to have access to his medical and psychiatric records to investigate whether his accusations against Lopez were part of a delusion," Waterman said.

The state said without the testimony of the victim, it could not meet the burden of proof.

Waterman said the original criminal complaint erroneously reported that Lopez admitted to kissing the male patient on two different occasions.

"The prosecution removed these allegations after it was verified from transcripts of the police interview that Lopez explained her accuser made two unwanted advances and attempted to kiss her each time," the defense attorney said.

Lopez told investigators she rebuffed those advances. She maintained her innocence and consistently stated the accusations against her were false, Waterman said.