Former Atascadero State Hospital worker accused of sexually assaulting child

Content warning: This story contains accusations of child sexual assault.

A former psychiatric technician at Atascadero State Hospital will face trial on charges he sexually assaulted a child, a judge ruled Thursday.

Alfred Leroy Sweet, 62, is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, three counts of sodomy by force to a minor and two counts of lewd acts with a minor.

Sweet is accused of molesting the now 13-year-old child since they were 4 or 5 years old. The abuse allegedly escalated to rape when the child was 11 or 12.

The sodomy and sexual assault charges stem from an incident in 2021 while the lewd act with a child charges are from two separate incidents in 2014 and 2020.

Sweet began working at Atascadero State Hospital as a psych tech in 2008, with a yearlong gap in 2010, the Department of State Hospitals said. His last day employed was Dec. 3.

The San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Sweet on Nov. 15.

In a filing asking the court to not bring Sweet to trial, Sweet’s attorney Pierre Blahnik argued that the child attended a “brainstorming-type meeting” to build a case against Sweet in hopes of helping his second wife win full custody of their infant child during their ongoing custody battle.

Blahnik told the judge Thursday that the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office’s case was based on “idiotic evidence” and should not go to trial. He argued that the child reported a gang rape, but law enforcement failed to charge anyone else for the alleged rape because the allegations were not true.

The rape allegations against his client cannot be separated from the gang rape allegations, Blahnik argued, adding that the child is not credible.

“What seems preposterous is that the defense would say ‘idiotic evidence’ in reference to a 13-year-old (child) reporting a violent assault by (their) father,” San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Kristin Barnard replied.

San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Matthew Guerrero said because the pornographic searches “align” with the child’s allegations, it gives strong suspicion that they could be true. He ruled the case will go to trial.

After the judge’s ruling, Blahnik told Barnard that both she and the case were “pathetic.”

When asked about receiving school records, Blahnik told Guerrero, “Is there any physical evidence? I don’t know what to say. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.”

The judge also approved an order from the California Attorney General’s Office that prevents Sweet from working as a psychiatric technician.

Sweet’s formal arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 29.

Investigation began after child reported alleged abuse to mental health hospital, deputy says

In a preliminary hearing Feb. 1, San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Florentino said the investigation into Sweet began after the department received a report from a mental health hospital in August.

In a phone call played for the court, the child’s mother told Florentino that her child told Sweet’s then-wife about the allegations the day before the child went to the mental health hospital in August. The child’s mother said she then learned about the allegations when the mental health hospital notified her.

The mother told Florentino the only instant that she saw that made her uncomfortable was a moment at an eye doctor that occurred when her child was 7. She said she saw her child walk up to Sweet, put their head in Sweet’s groin area and Sweet stroked their hair. She quickly asked her child to sit next to her, the mother said.

She thought it was weird Sweet didn’t move the child’s head away from his groin, the mother said, but she didn’t suspect that he had been inappropriately touching the child. The mother said Sweet’s then-wife has two daughters who also reported inappropriate behavior.

According to the child’s mother, the younger daughter of his then-wife reported Sweet was drunk at a birthday party when the daughter turned 18 and “stuck his tongue down her throat,” while the older daughter reported Sweet had grabbed her buttocks while claiming he thought she was her mom.

Florentino said the child reported in their initial interview that Sweet had inappropriately touched them twice, but added that his goal when interviewing the child was to only receive “minimal facts” so that the child could speak with a professional child interviewer without having to repeat traumatic details with multiple officers.

Child reported being assaulted on regular basis, detective testifies

Atascadero Police Department Det. Craig Martineau testified Feb. 1 that he observed the child forensic interview with the child when they were 12 years old. A child forensic interview is conducted by a professional who has expertise in interviewing children about traumatic subjects.

In the interview, Martineau said, the child said Sweet began inappropriately touching them when they were 4 or 5 years old.

Martineau said the child said Sweet was upstairs naked on the lower half of his body and asked the child to sit on his lap, put their head in his groin area and stroked their hair. When Sweet heard the child’s mother coming upstairs, he placed the child in a playpen and put on his pants.

Placing the child’s head on Sweet’s lap was “not an infrequent act,” Martineau said, adding the child reported it would happen both when Sweet was clothed and unclothed.

The child also reported Sweet would grab their crotch area often and act as if it was an “unspoken accident,” Martineau said.

Sweet divorced the child’s mother in 2016, court records show.

From roughly 2021 to 2022, the child said in the interview that Sweet “violently” assaulted them when they were 11 to 12 years old, Martineau said. At the time, the child was living with Sweet for three weeks each month.

Sweet removed the child’s pants, pushed the child down on the couch, told them to “stop fighting,” called them slurs and sodomized the child, Martineau said. The child told the interviewer their body was bruised and “hurt all over,” and they missed the first half of school the next day because they were crying in the bathroom.

Four to five weeks later, Martineau said the child said in the interview, Sweet assaulted the child again in a similar fashion. The child said that the assaults would continue twice a week for three to four months at his apartment in Atascadero.

The child said the assaults stopped once Sweet got a girlfriend.

Martineau said Sweet had visited several suspicious pornographic sites that he organized into four categories: Family relationships, anal sex, forced sex and young females.

Defendant’s friends were never alone with his child, they testify

On cross-examination Feb. 1, Martineau said the child reported they had been inappropriately touched multiple times and “gang raped” at least once by Sweet and his friends. The child only knew the first name of one friend, who went by “Billy.”

Martineau said Sweet’s devices did not reveal who those friends could be and he could not locate anyone by the name of Billy associated with Sweet, which is why the police decided to pursue Sweet for the alleged solo acts.

Sweet’s attorney, Blahnik, called two of Sweet’s friends to testify on Feb. 8.

One of the witnesses was named Billy Bowden, who met Sweet about 12 years ago while working as a registered nurse at Atascadero State Hospital, he said.

Though they knew each other previously at Atascadero State Hospital, Bowden and Sweet’s friendship started about four years ago, Bowden said.

Bowden saw the alleged victim once at Sweet’s wedding, but they didn’t speak to each other. Bowden said he had never been alone with the victim and Sweet.

Neither attorney asked Bowden about the assault allegations.

The other witness was Larry Schreihans, a former Atascadero State Hospital employee.

Schreihans originally met Sweet at the hospital, and the pair became friends after meeting again at Bowden’s house about a year and a half ago, he said.

Sweet, Bowden and Schreihans almost always hung out in a group with their wives, except for when Bowden and Schreihans went fishing, he said. Additionally, Schreihans once went to dinner with Sweet. The group often met for dinner and took a trip to Las Vegas together, according to Schreihans.

Schreihans has been to Sweet’s Paso Robles home twice for dinner. He had never met the alleged victim, he said.

After three preliminary hearings, Guerrero ultimately ruled in favor of the prosecution. He did not find the alleged inconsistencies regarding the alleged gang rape sufficient to exonerate Sweet from facing the charges.

How to get help

If you or someone you know are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support.

If you or someone you know are a survivor of domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support.

Survivor support and resources are also available through Lumina Alliance at luminaalliance.org or their Crisis and Information Line at 805-545-8888.