Manager At Hines VA Hospital Accused Of Groping 4 Women He Supervised
MAYWOOD, Ill. (CBS) -- A manager has been charged with groping multiple women at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in the western suburbs.
Edward Howard, 67, of Country Club Hills, was arrested Friday and was charged with four counts of misdemeanor battery, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office. He was released on $4,000 bond.
In early February, the Hines VA Hospital Police Department asked sheriff's police detectives to launch criminal sexual harassment investigation after a woman complained to the hospital's human resources department claiming that Howard had abused her. Howard is chief of central supplies for the hospital and the woman's supervisor, sheriff's police said.
Over the next several weeks, three more women told sheriff's police that Howard had touched them inappropriately and made inappropriate sexual comments to them, sheriff's police said.
The incidents occurred between November 2010 and January of this year, and Howard was the supervisor for all the women who came forward, sheriff's police said.
Three of the women said they did not report the incidents initially out of fear of retaliation, sheriff's police said.
Howard is due to appear on May 5 at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood.