Mesa Police detail sexual assault allegations against living facility employee

MESA, Ariz. - The man accused of sexually assaulting an 85-year-old woman at an adult care facility is now facing another sexual assault charge.

Mesa Police say Manuel Corral, 58, confessed to sexually assaulting a patient at a different assisted living facility in 2012. But now, the big question is how did he get employed at the most recent company?

Corral used to work at Heritage Lane Behavioral Assisted Living in 2012. Mesa Police say it took nearly 8 years for Corral to admit to sexually assaulting a 32-year-old patient, after initially lying.

The confession came during his arrest Sunday when an 85-year-old patient at the facility said she had been sexually assaulted the night prior by the "night watchman," who was later identified as Corral.

"It was very tireless work by the detectives involved I don't know what made him say yes this time whereas he was denying in 2012," says Det. Nik Rasheta with the Mesa Police Department.

Now, Corral is accused of seven total counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual abuse and kidnapping.

Heritage Lane released a statement reading in part: “All required employment checks were performed at the time of Manuel’s hire under previous management. On 3/2/12, he was terminated from his employment without substantiating evidence, after a resident came forward alleging sexual misconduct. The incident was immediately reported to the AZ Dept. of Health Services and local law enforcement to conduct their own independent investigations.”

It's unknown where Corral worked from March 2012 up until seven months ago when he was hired. The facility says Corral holds a valid Arizona fingerprint card and his background checks came out clean.

Police say there's no indication of a past criminal record. "I'm not aware of any other charges that he had at the time even in 2012 there's no indication he had been charged with any sexual offenses like this," Rasheta says.

Mesa Police also says Corral was questioned in 2014 when he was accused of physically abusing two male patients but no charges were ever filed in those cases.