Man raped fellow patient at Utah mental health facility, charges say

MIDVALE — A patient at an inpatient psychiatric hospital was charged Monday with sexually assaulting another patient.

Benito Silva is charged in 3rd District Court with rape, a first-degree felony, and lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.

Silva, a patient at Highland Ridge Hospital, 7309 S. 180 West in Midvale, was found naked and in the shower in the room of another patient, an 18-year-old woman, according to charging documents.

Later, Silva sneaked back into the woman’s room, “grabbed her throat,” choked her and then sexually assaulted her, the charges state.

The hospital declined to comment on the incident Monday.

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