EMT acquitted of sexually assaulting patient

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RACINE, Wis. (AP) – A member of a Kenosha County ambulance crew has been cleared of charges that alleged he sexually assaulted a female seizure patient as she was being taken to a Racine hospital.

A Racine County jury deliberated for about an hour Wednesday before acquitting Jodin D. Froeber, 38, of third-degree sexual assault, The Journal Times of Racine reported.

Froeber cried outside the courtroom, saying the last two years have been hell. He said he lost his car, house and dog while defending himself of charges he knew were false.

“My whole thing coming into this, the whole time, was I didn’t do this. I know in my heart this didn’t take place,” he said.

Prosecutors accused him of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in 2011 after she apparently suffered several seizures.

The woman testified that a crew member lifted her bra over her face and that she heard two clicks as from a phone camera. She also said the person slid his hand down her pants and fondled her twice.

She said she didn’t see the person’s face, but several witnesses testified that Froeber was the only person in the back of the ambulance with her.

Prosecutor Jeremy Arn told jurors the woman’s testimony was enough evidence to convict Froeber.

“He thought he got away with it. Don’t let him get away with it,” Arn said.

But defense attorney Julius Kim countered that prosecutors had no evidence that Froeber committed sexual assault. Kim said a search of Froeber’s cellphone found no pictures of the woman, and Froeber’s DNA didn’t match the profiles of male DNA found in her underwear.

“If you won’t open your mind that something might not have happened, bad things happen. Innocent people get (arrested),” Kim said.

Information from: The Journal Times, http://www.journaltimes.com