Central Wisconsin Center Rape

Summer 2003 – Madison, WI
An employee of the CWC, Thubten Dargyel, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and will serve 10 years of extended supervision after his release for sexually assaulting a patient in his care. If the woman hadn’t become pregnant the crime may never have been discovered. Staff found out she had been pregnant when the woman miscarried a fetus of about 6 weeks age. The 36-year-old severely mentally and physically disabled Woman left the center for the first time since she became a resident at 18 months of age to be treated at a hospital.

Her pregnancy was reported to police on July 31, 2003. Investigators asked all male employees who might have had contact with the woman to allow cheek swabs to be taken for DNA evidence. The man at first refused to supply a DNA sample, but finally did.

The mans DNA was found to match DNA in the patient's miscarried fetus. He gave an absurd explanation that he ejaculates when he sneezes and that his semen somehow ended up on the patient.

The Judge Exceeded the Recommended Sentence agreed upon by the attorneys in a plea deal. "This is a terrible, terrible tragedy, one of the saddest cases I have ever seen," said Circuit Judge David Flanagan.

Dargyel, a native of Tibet, is married with a son and two daughters. An outpouring of support from Tibetans around the world could not outweigh the harm he had done to this profoundly disabled women.

Thubten Dargyel (53)