SPOKANE, Wash. – The Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center is beginning the firing process of an employee charged with two counts of felony sexual assault in Montana.
The medical center is located in Spokane.
According to district court documents out of Lake County, Montana, Frank Paulsen “knowingly subjected another person to any sexual contact without consent” on or between a number of dates in the years 2002 through 2004.
The charges came down in April.
VA Spokesman Bret Bowers confirmed that the VA Medical Center is aware of the charges and is beginning the termination process. He said Paulsen worked as an administrator in the surgery unit.
Bowers provided this statement on behalf of the VA Medical Center:
“This behavior is not in line with the norms and values of the department, and as a result VA has initiated the process for termination of this employee. VA has made clear that it will hold employees accountable when they to fail to live up to the high standards taxpayers expect from us, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in this case.”
Paulsen is not the first VA Medical Center employee charged with sex crimes.
Craig Morgenstern, a former doctor with the Spokane VA, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child and other child porn production charges in 2016. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld these convictions and his sentence of 12 life terms of imprisonment for his crimes in March 2018.
