|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A Mecklenburg County jury has convicted a former Fort Mill Emergency Medical Services paramedic of sexually assaulting a teenage patient during an ambulance transport, resulting in a prison sentence of 70 to 144 months.
Akingbiwaju Opadele, 34, Male, Nigerian-born and from Concord, North Carolina, was found guilty of a second-degree forcible sex offence and sexual activity by a custodian. Superior Court Judge Louis A. Trosch Jr. imposed the sentence following a trial that concluded in early September 2026. Opadele must also register as a sex offender for 30 years.
According to prosecutors and court records, the incident occurred on January 17, 2023. The teenage victim suffered a seizure at school and was being transported by Fort Mill EMS to Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. Opadele, the paramedic assigned to treat her in the back of the ambulance, sexually assaulted her while she was physically helpless and mentally incapacitated due to the medical emergency.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the victim immediately reported the assault to medical staff and requested that Opadele leave her room. Hospital personnel corroborated her account. Witnesses from Atrium Health and Fort Mill Emergency Services testified at trial, and DNA evidence further supported the victim’s testimony. The victim herself also testified.
Opadele was arrested in March 2023. He was initially charged with second-degree forcible sex offense, sexual activity by a custodian, and sexual contact or penetration under the pretext of medical treatment. The third charge was later dropped. After posting a $15,000 unsecured bond, he was released shortly after booking and spent no time in jail prior to his conviction. As a result, he will receive no credit for time served.
The case was prosecuted by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Felony Special Victims Team. Authorities have emphasized that the medical episode the victim experienced did not require any contact of the nature described.This conviction is among several reported cases in recent months involving Nigerian nationals charged with or convicted of sexual offences in foreign jurisdictions. These include a late-September 2026 arrest in Canada of a Nigerian tech recruiter on human trafficking and sex-related charges, as well as ongoing UK court proceedings against entertainer Iweh Pascal Odinaka (known as Poco Lee) on multiple rape and assault charges, alongside earlier 2026 convictions in the United Kingdom for similar offences.
