Police: Children's hospital nurse facing sex charge did not meet teen victim at hospital

Seth Branch, 33, accused of unlawful sexual activity with minor

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Seth Branch

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 33-year-old registered nurse at Wolfson Children's Hospital has been suspended from his job, while police investigate claims that he sexually molested a teenager for a year.

Police arrested Seth Michael Branch last week.

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Investigators said the crimes he's accused of did not take place at the hospital and he did not meet the alleged victim at the hospital.

Police said Branch's sexual relationship with a teenager, who was 16 or 17 years old, occurred over the period of a year at his house in Mandarin. Neighbors said Branch was often seen with young teenagers in his front yard, even though he lived by himself. 

"There's been several different younger children -- kids -- over there," Mandarin resident Jack Klarich said.

Klarich said he always found it odd to see Branch playing with teens in front of the house several times a week.

"I've seen other kids over there, and they would come and go with the odd hours of his nursing job," Klarich said. "Most of the time was spent outside doing yard work, and then they would go inside."

Police said the victim was not a patient at Wolfson Children's Hospital, where authorities picked Branch up for questioning last week. An hour before he was taken in for questioning, police said the teenage victim called Branch with investigators secretly on the line. And they said the following conversation occurred:

Teen: "Why did you touch me?"

Branch: "I'm sorry. This will never happen again. I screwed up. I screwed up. I'm sorry about that."

Officers charged Branch with unlawful intercourse with a minor of previous chaste character, a charge that lawyer Ed Birk said ultimately protects the victim.

"What that means is that the 16- or 17-year-old has not been emancipated as an adult. It's possible for someone of that age to be married without legal permission, so this victim has not been declared an adult or had a history of sexual activity," said Birk, who is not affiliated with the case.

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith urged parents of Wolfson Children's Hospital patients to have conversations with their children about Branch, even though police said there's no evidence of sexual misconduct at Branch's job.

"If you have a child that was a patient that was at Wolfson hospital and may have had contact with him, you might want to have a conversation with your child to see if anything inappropriate happened, and then if so, contact JSO and let them know," Smith said. "It is a shock because Wolfson hospital will do background checks to determine the suspect's past (if he's committed any) sexual battery, but it doesn't always show up on a background check."

A News4Jax check of Branch's criminal record did not turn up anything beyond a traffic ticket.

Wolfson Children's Hospital released a statement Sunday:

"As a leader in children's health care, Wolfson Children's Hospital is absolutely committed to the health and safety of our patients and their families. That is why every one of our staff must undergo a thorough background and reference check before employment. We are taking the allegation very seriously and we are cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation. Mr. Branch is currently on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation."  


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Tarik anchors the 4, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. weekday newscasts and reports with the I-TEAM.