Former Conway Surgeon Gets 20 Years For Raping 70-Year-Old Patient In Her Hospital Bed

CONWAY, Ark. — A Faulkner County jury has sentenced a former Conway surgeon to 20 years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting a 70-year-old patient in her hospital bed days after he operated on her.

Guy Langley Peeples, 66, of Vilonia, was found guilty Friday of rape and one count of second-degree sexual assault at the end of a four-day trial in Faulkner County Circuit Court, court records show. Jurors set his punishment at 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction for rape and five years plus a $15,000 fine for the sexual assault. The jury found him not guilty on a second count of second-degree sexual assault.

The two prison terms will run back to back, Prosecuting Attorney Carol Crews of the 20th Judicial District said, and Peeples must serve all of the rape sentence and at least half of the assault sentence before he is eligible for parole, Crews told KARK.

“This was one of the most egregious abuses of trust that I have ever seen,” Crews said. “This man took advantage of a vulnerable woman in what should be one of the safest places in society, a hospital. Thankfully, this man will most likely die in prison and never be able to walk freely and hurt anyone else.”

What the affidavit says

The woman had undergone hernia surgery and was bedridden at Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway on the morning of Nov. 10, 2025, when Peeples came into her room, according to an arrest affidavit by Conway Police Det. Shaelyn Smith.

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A hospital “virtual sitter,” an employee who watches patients considered fall risks over a live video feed, saw Peeples rub the woman’s hand on his groin, grope her breasts, remove the bandages covering her nipples and put his mouth on her breast, the affidavit said. The employee told police she also saw him put his hand inside the woman’s diaper for several minutes. When she turned on the sound, she heard him say, “You have to hurry up and get discharged, so the real fun can start,” according to the affidavit.

The patient did not report the assault herself. When officers arrived, she said she was scared and at first did not want to talk, the affidavit said. She then told them, crying, that Peeples felt her belly and breasts, then exposed himself and put his penis in her mouth. She said she did not tell him to stop because she was scared and “in shock,” according to the affidavit. The hospital told police the video feed was live only and was not recorded.

At a meeting with hospital administrators the next day, Peeples admitted the acts but said the contact was consensual, the hospital’s president told the detective. He said that during earlier visits under his care the two had “flirtatious banter” and occasionally patted each other on the buttocks, according to the affidavit.

The jury’s verdict forms show it found Peeples guilty of rape both by forcible compulsion and because the woman was physically helpless.

Arrest and bond

A warrant for Peeples’ arrest was issued Nov. 14, 2025. Three days later the U.S. Marshals Service and Conway police asked the public for help finding him and called him an international flight risk, KATV reported. Baptist Health said in a statement that it notified police and fired him.

Peeples turned himself in at the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 18, 2025, a sheriff’s deputy told KATV. He surrendered his Arkansas medical license days later, according to news reports.

A judge set bond at $5 million with an electronic ankle monitor and barred him from practicing medicine while the case was pending, court records show. He has been held in the Faulkner County jail since his surrender, and the jail roster listed him there Thursday on the $5 million bond.

Second case pending

Peeples still faces a second criminal case. In February, prosecutors charged him with rape and three counts of second-degree sexual assault involving a 38-year-old woman who was his patient at the same hospital from March 11 to April 2, 2025, court records show.

That woman told Smith she had been heavily sedated after surgery and that Peeples repeatedly undressed and touched her while her husband was away from the hospital, according to an affidavit filed with the charges. She told the detective she had kept telling herself she dreamed it until Peeples was arrested on the first charge, the affidavit said.

A pretrial hearing in that case is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26. If convicted, Peeples would face 10 to 40 years or life in prison on the rape charge and five to 20 years on each sexual assault charge.

Civil lawsuits

Both women have also sued in Faulkner County Circuit Court. The 70-year-old patient filed suit against Peeples in May seeking compensatory and punitive damages. In his answer, Peeples acknowledged that “contact” between them occurred but denied that it was not consensual, court records show. That lawsuit remains pending.

The second woman’s lawsuit, filed in November 2025, names Peeples, Baptist Health and the hospital’s operator, among others, and accuses the hospital of failing to protect patients. A judge put that case on hold in July until the second criminal case is resolved.

Circuit Judge Troy Braswell presides over both criminal cases. Peeples is represented by Little Rock lawyers Michael Kaiser and Cassidy Smith of Lassiter & Cassinelli. A transmittal the judge signed Friday commits Peeples to the Department of Correction for 20 years and notes that a written sentencing order will follow.