Sunbury Man, 83, Charged With Assaulting Hospital Staff at WellSpan

William Wayne Gabel, 83, of Market Street, Sunbury, faces three misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and three summary counts of harassment after state police say he grabbed the genitals of three employees at WellSpan Evangelical Community Hospital in Kelly Township on the evening of March 6.

Trooper Jacob Horan of the Milton State Police Barracks responded to the hospital shortly after 6:30 p.m. that night. According to the affidavit Horan wrote, a male staff member entered Gabel's room to speak with him. While the staffer was talking, Gabel allegedly grabbed him in the genitals. Two additional hospital employees were also allegedly grabbed.

When police interviewed Gabel, he told them the hospital had drugged him and he was sick of it. He told police he grabbed the staff in the genitals as a way to get their attention, Horan wrote in the affidavit.

Horan filed the charges through the Lewisburg office of District Judge Jeffrey A. Rowe. The three indecent assault counts are classified as misdemeanors; the three harassment counts are summaries.

No injuries were reported. No hospital comment from WellSpan Evangelical Community Hospital was included in charging documents or police reports, and no court date has been publicly announced as of this report.