Former nurse, jiu-jitsu instructor sentenced for raping young student at Halifax Hospital

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A former nurse at Halifax Health is headed to jail after being convicted and sentenced for raping a young woman at the hospital.

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Now 58-year-old Joel Theodore Gingery faced up to 30 years in prison after a Volusia County jury found him guilty of two counts of sexual battery back in March.

Gingery, who was also a jiu-jitsu instructor and owner of Trident Jiu-Jitsu in Ormond Beach, was working a shift at Halifax on August 22, 2022, when he lured one of his jiu-jitsu students to the hospital under the guise of wanting to help her with the costs of her training.

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However, when the 18-year-old victim arrived, investigators say Gingery took her into an on-call room, barricaded the door shut with a table, and raped her.

“The defendant is especially detestable,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a statement about Gingery after the verdict was announced. “He lured an impressionable young girl who trusted him. I hope our victim finds some solace in his conviction.”

During a hearing Monday afternoon, Judge Elizabeth Blackburn sentenced Gingery to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of sex offender probation.

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The case was investigated by the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Assistant State Attorneys Helen Schwartz and Nancy Simpson successfully tried the case for the state.

Nurse charged with sexually assaulting woman at Daytona Beach hospital, police say (WFTV)

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