An intensive care nurse has been arrested and charged with sexual assault after he allegedly took photos and videos of his patients for a self-described “Dexter collection”, according to authorities.
Christopher Lambros, a 61-year-old nurse, was taken into custody in Grand Junction, Colorado, on 25 October, following a months-long investigation by law enforcement which uncovered evidence of him allegedly assaulting patients while they were unconscious and taking photographs and videos of their naked bodies.
According to a probable cause affidavit, released by the Grand Junction Police Department this week, police were initially tipped off by a fellow employee at St Mary’s Hospital where he worked.
The employee, whose identity is redacted in the affidavit, called police on 9 July saying they had seen Mr Lambros “taking photos of a patient’s genitals” that evening while the patient was unable to consent.
“When she pulled back the curtain she saw the patient, who was unconscious, with her gown pulled up, exposing her breasts, and the bed sheet was pulled down, exposing the patient’s genitals,” the affidavit states.
“[The witness] said she saw a nurse, who she knew as Chris Lambros, with his head on the patient’s stomach, with his face toward the patient’s feet, with what she believed [was] his right arm extended, holding what she was sure was an unknown make/model cell phone in a black case, in a position as if he was taking a ‘selfie’ picture.”
The employee called police and an officer was dispatched to Mr Lambros’ home where he voluntarily consented to his photo applications being checked on his phone.
While there, the 61-year-old nurse attempted to explain away the accusations levelled against him by his co-worker, claiming that he’d been injecting the patient for blood clots, saying that the shot “is administered in the stomach area”, the affidavit states.
He also allegedly told the officer that he and the unnamed employee had some “petty workplace issues” which, he claimed, might explain her account of events.
The officer didn’t find any incriminating photos on the device but seized it as evidence for further testing, given that multimedia can be deleted from devices and stored on backup or alternative storage devices, the affidavit says.
Though Mr Lambros did not cooperate by providing authorities with his cellphone pin, a search warrant was obatined for the phone and a digital forensic analysis was ran on the device.
This digital analysis uncovered a trove of “photographs and videos of Lambros posing with a number of victims who were unconscious, in the hospital setting”, the affidavit states.
Investigators also found a number of deleted pictures that allegedly showed the 61-year-old “sucking on victims’ breasts and digitally penetrating victims”.
In one video taken in June, Mr Lambros allegedly alluded to the TV show Dexter, comparing his own alleged trove of photos and videos to that collected by the namesake character Dexter Morgan – a serial killer who kept blood slides from each of his victims.
“In video recovered from 6/24/2022 at 17:30 hours, Lambros can be heard whispering to the camera saying ‘don’t ever get rid of these videos’ and ‘you need to keep them forever… this is your Dexter collection,’” the affidavit states.
In total, 168 photos and videos taken between 30 April and 9 July and later deleted from the phone were uncovered.
St Mary’s Hospital fired Mr Lambros after he was taken into custody and released a statement condemning his alleged actions.
“What this former nurse is accused of is reprehensible and goes against everything we believe and value at St. Mary’s Medical Center,” said Bryan Johnson, President of St Mary’s Medical Center.
“Patients put their trust in us and should feel safe in our care. We are working closely with law enforcement to protect our patients from those who intend to cause harm.”
Mr Lambros has been charged with three counts of sexual assault. He is being held at Mesa County Jail on $250,000 bond.
