Rye Custodian Sexually Assaulted Elderly Patient: Grand Jury

BRENTWOOD, NH — The Rockingham County Superior Court grand jury has indicted a Greenland man, charging him with sexually assaulting an 86-year-old patient at a Rye facility. Hugh McIntyre, 69, of Greenland, assaulted the woman while he worked at Webster in Rye as a custodian, according to the grand jury indictments issued last month. He is charged with simple assault, sexual assault and abuse of a facility patient.

According to the indictments, McIntyre entered a private bathroom on Jan. 28 and sexually assaulted the woman while using physical force and taking advantage of her age or physical disability. The woman was a patient of Webster's longterm memory unit, the indictments state. Her disability "rendered her incapable of freely arriving at an independent choice as to whether or not to engage in sexual conduct," according to the indictment on the sexual assault charge.

McIntyre was arrested on the three charges on April 2 after an investigation by the Rye Police Department and the New Hampshire Department of Justice Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. All of his charges are misdemeanors that carry a longer possible sentence if he is convicted, due to the charges involving an elderly victim or one with a physical disability, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.