Traveling nurse anesthetist Scott Weinerth came on strong to the women he encountered while on assignment and away from his wife. Was it harmless flirting? Perhaps, until a night out with an OR nurse ended with allegations of sexual assault and questions about a Florida hospital's medication security practices.

"Did you hear me say 'no?'" the nurse asked Mr. Weinerth. Punta Gorda police officer Harvey Ayers stood by, taking notes. He had arranged the controlled phone call as part of his investigation of the alleged incident that occurred on Nov. 3, 2005, and later swore under oath that Mr. Weinerth said, "Yeah, I know."

According to court records, Mr. Weinerth, then 38, and the 39-year-old alleged victim flirted regularly in the halls and ORs of Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda, and occasionally slipped into supply storage areas to fool around. The pair met one Thursday night after work, still dressed in scrubs, at a local bar where they downed several drinks before sitting down to dinner. The wine flowed. A bottle was drained during the meal before Mr. Weinerth ordered another to go. He asked the nurse back to his nearby condo, expressing concern that she shouldn't drive after drinking. She agreed, although reported feeling slightly "buzzed," but not intoxicated.

Back at Mr. Weinerth's place, the nurse sat on his couch and watched television as he went into the kitchen, which was out of her sight, and returned with 2 glasses of wine. After emptying half of the glass, the nurse claimed she felt "woozy" and out of it. She said her recollection of what happened next seemed "hazy" and admits to blacking out occasionally, but remembered kissing Mr. Weinerth while he attempted to pull off her pants and underwear. The nurse said she held onto her underwear and told Mr. Weinerth to stop.

Mr. Weinerth said they each had "maybe a sip of wine" before kissing on the couch. He remembered asking the nurse if she wanted to "lay down" in his bedroom before they "hopped up" together and headed back.

The nurse recalled finding herself naked in the bedroom, first on her back, then on her stomach, as Mr. Weinerth forced himself into her in both positions. She said Mr. Weinerth also forced himself into her mouth. The nurse claimed she woke up around 2 a.m., naked in bed, got up and tried to get dressed, but had difficulty standing and finding her clothes. When Mr. Weinerth requested her to stay longer and she refused, he reportedly told her to keep quiet about the incident. The nurse told police that she believed Mr. Weinerth drugged her without permission and had sex with her while she was incapacitated.

"I'm really freaked out about the whole (thing). Do you know what I mean? Having unprotected sex. You pushed me further than I wanted to go."

Mr. Weinerth admitted to police that he had sex with the nurse, but claimed it was consensual, that the nurse appeared sober and left for home around midnight. He said they kissed goodbye, and everything seemed fine the next day at the hospital when he squeezed her hand to say hello.

But the alleged victim felt differently. She holed up in her home the following weekend, cried, confided in her friends and, 3 days after the alleged assault took place, contacted police from the emergency room at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte, where she underwent a physical exam. She didn't immediately report the incident to authorities because she was afraid of what Mr. Weinerth would do to her. A blood sample taken during the exam showed traces of phenothiazines, a class of antipsychotic drugs that cause Parkinsonism and can be used as a sedative. The nurse told Officer Ayers that she was not taking any medications that contained phenothiazines at the time. She also told the officer that she wished to press charges against Mr. Weinerth. The next day, she made the controlled phone call with Officer Ayers at her side.

"It just hurt my trust that you did that to me. I mean, it sounds weird, but I've been crying all weekend."

Joanne Thompson, RN, Charlotte Regional's director of surgery, told Officer Ayers that Mr. Weinerth had access to Compazine, an anti-emetic, antipsychotic or tranquilizer that contains phenothiazine. Ms. Thompson informed Officer Ayers during a voluntary statement that the drug was available in several forms, including liquid, which could be mixed with a drink. She also said the medications were not closely watched, and Mr. Weinerth could have easily taken some for personal use.

During the ensuing investigation, Officer Ayers interviewed Mr. Weinerth at the police station. Mr. Weinerth showed up with a small personal bag that Officer Ayers asked to search. The bag contained a plastic box holding hospital-issued sedatives, blood pressure medications, a nerve stimulator and 12 unmarked syringes filled with what Mr. Weinerth claimed were muscle relaxants. The box did not contain Compazine.

Officer Ayers claimed Mr. Weinerth said the medication container was supposed to be returned at the end of each day, but the hospital "does not keep a close watch on the medications he has in his possession," and his distribution and disposal of the drugs "is based on the hospital's trust in him." A Charlotte Regional spokeswoman did not respond to repeated inquiries about the medical center's current medication security policies.

Mr. Weinerth told Officer Ayers that he kept the bag in his possession at all times, and did take it home. Mr. Weinerth denied giving the nurse any controlled substance during the night in question. He did admit to lying to the nurse about being married, and said he had another girlfriend that the nurse didn't know about. He also admitted to acknowledging the nurse's accusations during the controlled phone call, but said he did so only to keep her calm.

"Did you hear me that I said 'no' and was fighting you?".

On Nov. 12 and 13, Mr. Weinerth failed to show up for work at Charlotte Regional, telling Ms. Thompson that he was leaving town. Turns out, he returned to his home in New Orleans.

According to his arrest report, Mr. Weinerth's wife called the alleged victim on Nov. 18, asking, "Why are you ruining my husband's life?" Two days later, Mr. Weinerth called the nurse while driving from his home in New Orleans to his Florida residence with his wife, demanding that she drop the charges.

On Nov. 21, Mr. Weinerth was arrested outside his Florida condo on charges of sexual battery. While being placed in the patrol car, he told the arresting officers that he "didn't want to scare her, I just wanted her to drop the charges."

About a month after Mr. Weinerth's arrest, the nurse did in fact dismiss the charges, according to Charlotte County court records. Her side of the story did have some inconsistencies, which Mr. Weinerth pointed out in a wrongful arrest lawsuit filed against Officer Ayers and the city of Punta Gorda.

Specifically, the alleged victim had no signs of physical trauma when examined 3 days after the supposed incident took place (she claimed to have taken several showers in the time between the alleged attack and emergency room exam). The nurse took prescription medication for persistent tremors, but claimed she began experiencing the tremors after being drugged by Mr. Weinerth. The only drug in the nurse's system at the time of the emergency room exam, other than approved prescription medications, was phenothiazine, which she said was the result of being drugged by Compazine. She claimed to be allergic to Compazine, however, and did not have an adverse reaction on the night of the alleged attack. Mr. Weinerth also said that only registered nurses had access to Charlotte Regional's stock of Compazine.

During a post-arrest deposition, Ms. Thompson backtracked from the voluntary statement she gave Officer Ayers during his initial investigation. Under oath, she said the injectable form of Compazine was kept in an automated storage unit accessible by the hospital's registered nurses, but not Mr. Weinerth. Ms. Thompson has since retired from Charlotte Regional and could not be reached for comment.

A Florida district court recently dismissed the false arrest charges, ruling that a reasonable officer would have had probable cause to act on the charges based on the facts and circumstances available at the time of the arrest.

Mr. Weinerth's attorneys did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Daniel Cook