Director of CA mental hospital accused of molesting foster child; other victims possible

CA hospital head arrested for alleged molestation

LOS ANGELES — The executive director of a Northern California mental hospital was arrested Wednesday for investigation of molesting his foster child for more than a decade.

Napa State Hospital Director Claude Edward Foulk, 62, was arrested at the hospital after a five-month investigation by Long Beach police.

The hospital fired him after he was charged Tuesday with 35 felony counts, punishable by up to 280 years in prison.

Foulk was booked into custody in Long Beach. Prosecutors asked that bail be set at $3.5 million, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Lesley Klein said.

The investigation was started in September after a man now in his 40s came forward, Long Beach Police Sgt. Dina Zapalski said.

The crimes were “not work-related,” Zapalski said.

Foulk is accused of sexually molesting the boy shortly after taking him in as a foster child at age 10 in 1992. The alleged crimes continued through 2004 after Foulk and the youth moved to Walnut, according to the district attorney’s office.

Investigators were also looking into claims from four other alleged victims in Long Beach and Rancho Murietta in Northern California dating from 1975 to 2006, before Foulk began working at Napa State Hospital, Zapalski said.

Prosecutors said the statute of limitations could prevent them from pursuing some other alleged cases.

It could not be immediately determined if Foulk had an attorney.

Foulk was appointed director of Napa State Hospital in 2007. Hospital officials declined to comment.

“We did not know anything about this until Long Beach police came to the hospital and arrested him this morning,” said Nancy Kincaid, spokeswoman for the California Department of Mental Health.

She noted the alleged incidents predated Foulk’s arrival at Napa State Hospital.

“He was not in one-on-one contact with patients,” Kincaid said. “He had no clinical hospital privileges, so he wouldn’t have been offering treatment.”

Dr. Stephen W. Mayberg, director of the state mental health department, said Foulk had been fired.

Napa State Hospital Administrator Dolly Matteucci is serving as acting executive director while the department searches for Foulk’s replacement, Kincaid said.

At the time of Foulk’s appointment to Napa State Hospital he was lauded for his lengthy career in mental health services in both the private and public sectors.

Prior to taking the position in Napa, Foulk worked for the state Department of Mental Health as the Chief of Program, Policy and Fiscal Support, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported. Before that, he held positions as chief executive officer and chief operating officer of private community acute psychiatric hospitals, including CPC Horizon Hospital and Clinic in Pomona and CPC Alhambra Psychiatric Hospital in Rosemead, according to a Department of Mental Health news release.

Napa State Hospital is one of the largest state mental health facilities in the United States, with about 1,260 beds for patients. Many of the hospital’s patients come from the criminal justice system — including those found not guilty by reason of insanity. No juveniles or child molesters are treated at Napa.

Associated Press Writers Denise Petski and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles, Terence Chea in San Francisco and Donald Thompson in Sacramento contributed to this report.