Torrance patient pleads guilty to aggravated indecent assault, gets prison time

A longtime resident at Torrance State Hospital told police he raped a fellow patient last year as a means to leave the Derry Township facility, where he has lived since 2010.

His plan succeeded, in part, this week after a Westmoreland County judge ordered Keith L. Saltonstall to serve up to six years in state prison.

Saltonstall, 51, formerly of Chester County, pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of aggravated indecent assault in connection with what police said was a forced sexual encounter with a 57-year-old mentally disabled man who has lived at the state hospital since 1993.

Police said Saltonstall sexually assaulted the man as many as three times last June.

According to court records, hospital staff received a note purportedly from the patient asking to become Saltonstall’s new roommate. The note appeared to be in Saltonstall’s handwriting, police said.

The patient later told a doctor that Saltonstall had promised him money in exchange for sex.

Saltonstall admitted to a doctor that he wanted to become the man’s roommate so he could sexually assault him and be released from the hospital, police said.

“So I came up with one solution to solving my discharge problem, which was get arrested for having non-consensual sex with a patient,” according to a note authorities said was written by Saltonstall.

Assistant Public Defender Michael Garofalo confirmed the plea deal finalized this week met Saltonstall’s objective.

“He was ordered to serve three to six years in state (prison),” Garofalo said.

Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani also ordered Saltonstall to serve an additional three years on probation.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed counts of sexual assault, rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse against a disabled person.

According to court records, Saltonstall was 15 when he was first convicted of a sex crime and previously served a five to 10 year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault in 1989 in eastern Pennsylvania. Police said Saltonstall was originally transferred to Torrance after he served a maximum sentence for rape. He has since been diagnosed with various psychological conditions, including pedophilia and antisocial personality disorder, police said.