Man accused of raping incapacitated patient was in a Christian rap duo
The nurse accused of raping an incapacitated patient at an Arizona medical facility was once part of a Christian rap duo, his former pastor said.
Nathan Sutherland, 36, performed with his sister under the name SLS or Sleeplessouljaz.
“That was back in the early days, him and his sister had a rap act,” Pastor Marie Mosley of the Faith Center West Family Church in Mesa, Arizona, told NBC News. “I haven’t seen him since 2003. He’s been in a lot of churches since then.”
A bio for the group says they were adopted by an American couple from a Haitian orphanage in 1989, when Sutherland was 7 and his sister was 4.
He’s lived in Arizona since 1993 and became a naturalized citizen in 2011, his lawyer said.
“My parents split up in Haiti. My mom couldn’t take care of us, so she brought us to an orphanage,” Sutherland said in a 2011 video interview from Dog Entertainment Ministries. “[There] you’re blessed if you have one bowl of rice a day.”
In the interview, the pair said they grew up in a strict religious household where they weren’t allowed to listen to rap or hip-hop, “not even if it was gospel.”
“But you can’t stop what you were made to do,” Sutherland said about making music, adding that he started writing songs at the age of 10.
The duo released their first album in 2009, which is still available on Amazon. They tweeted that a second album was in the works in 2011 but nothing was released. Their social media has been inactive since 2014.
Also in 2011, Sutherland completed his licensed practical nurse training at the for-profit Fortis College in Phoenix, AZ Central reported. He began working at Hacienda Healthcare in January 2012.
On Wednesday, cops arrested Sutherland after they said his court-ordered DNA test matched a baby boy born to a 29-year-old incapacitated woman at the health care facility on Dec. 29. He was charged with sexual assault and vulnerable adult abuse and is being held in Maricopa County Jail on $500,000 cash-only bond.
A neighbor said she regularly sees Sutherland, his wife and four children leave for church on Sundays.
Court records indicate Sutherland’s wife filed for divorce three weeks before the victim gave birth. The couple married in 2012, shortly after Sutherland’s divorce from his first wife was finalized.
With Post wires