STROUDSBURG -- 31-year-old Matthew Menist of Stroudsburg is facing serious charges for allegedly sexually assaulting three people.
Stroud Area Regional Police say Menist works as an EMT for Suburban Ambulance in Stroudsburg and he violated those people when they were patients in his care.
People here say if Menist truly did this, he also violated those patients` trust.
“I had my mother in a nursing home and I would go visit almost every day and do unexpected visiting just because you don`t know,” said Leslie Arrington of Stroudsburg. “And it`s hard really, you can`t trust anybody anymore.”
“To molest somebody like that, somebody who you`re entrusting to take care of you that`s just horrendous,” said Andrew Scotchlas of Stroudsburg.
Investigators say the sexual assaults took place on three separate dates between July 2016 to this January, when the victims were being transported in his ambulance.
Police say the victims are all male, have special needs and range in age from juvenile to adult.
Police say while the men were in the ambulance, Menist was in the back with them.
Menist would allegedly would turn off the light and touch the victims, saying he was checking for injuries.
Police say that`s when the sexually assaults would occur.
“I think it`s horrible that we are putting ourselves in an ambulance, trusting an EMT worker to get us to the hospital safe and here something like that could happen to anybody, to our children,” said Joanne Katz.
Menist was arraigned on January 18th, charged with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.
“When people do something like this, there should be a severe enough sentence so that other people would be afraid to copy them and do it again,” said Rev. Charles Ortiz.
Menist had been locked up at the Monroe County Prison but has since made bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 28th.