COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A 72-year-old man faces accusations of sexual battery after allegedly touching a patient inappropriately at a metro Atlanta hospital.
According to the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to Piedmont Newnan on Sept. 14 in response to a claim of sexual assault.
The victim accused Michael Phippen of going into her room and touching her inappropriately. The victim told deputies she was unable to move as she had just had back surgery.
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Deputies also spoke to a member of the hospital staff. She told deputies that she was helping the patient to use the restroom when she felt someone touch her. She told deputies she “did not think anything of the matter” and brushed it off.
The hospital staff member said that Phippen, who was visiting the patient after her surgery, had been the one who allegedly touched her.
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The victim patient told deputies that Phippen was her neighbor and that he would come to her home to help take care of her, and would allegedly take similar inappropriate actions while at her home.
At the hospital, the victim said Phippen touched her inappropriately while visiting to help her eat lunch and that the incidents had happened repeatedly at her home for about 13 years, every day, despite asking Phippen to stop multiple times.
Deputies said in their investigative report that they found Phippen at his home and questioned him.
The deputies’ report said Phippen told them he had only helped the patient use the restroom at the hospital and was escorted out of the hospital by security for touching a nurse.
Phippen was told about the charges he was facing and taken into custody without issue. The sheriff’s office said Phippen is charged with two counts of sexual battery.
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