A New York anesthesiologist has admitted to drugging his children’s nanny with a rag dipped in chemicals and sexually assaulting her when she passed out, officials said.
The Putnam County District Attorney’s Office announced that Paul Giacopelli, 60, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in the first degree and assault in the second degree on Wednesday after being indicted in March.
When he was arrested, Giacopelli was the chief anesthesiologist at Putnam County Hospital.
Following a “painstaking investigation,” investigators determined that the anesthesiologist used a chemical to knock the victim unconscious before assaulting her in his home.
Court documents obtained by the Associated Press revealed more horrifying details, including the victim’s police statement that she awoke to a rag being held over her face and blacked out on four occasions in 2023.
On December 29 of that year, she set up a hidden camera before Giacopelli came into the room, passed out, and watched the recording of the assault once she woke back up.
The woman took the footage to police, leading to Giacopelli’s arrest.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office investigator Keith Simone testified that Giacopelli confessed to dousing rags with the anesthetic chemical Sevoflurane in order to knock out his victim.
He confessed he had acted on his “chloroform fetish” by sexually assaulting the nanny once she was asleep, the investigator said.
According to Simone, Giacopelli told investigators that he targeted the woman because she was a “heavy sleeper.”
The anesthesiologist also admitted that he brought drugs home from the hospital.
Detectives found fentanyl and other drugs in his home, Simon said.
The disgraced medical professional’s attorney, Steven Gaitman, told the AP that Giacopelli “assumed responsibility for his crimes, and now is focused on tending to his family.”
In accordance with a plea deal, prosecutors said Giacopelli will be “sentenced to four years in state prison with post release supervision for up to ten years.”
He will also have to register as a sex offender, and his license to practice medicine was revoked.
“I’m very proud of the work of the Sheriff’s Department and ADA Lynch; but I’m mostly proud of the victim’s courage in going through this process which led to the defendant’s arrest and conviction,” said District Attorney Robert V. Tendy said.
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