Nursing home aides face serious charges in abuse-for-thrills case
December 4th, 2008 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Two of the Minnesota nursing home aides charged in the “attacks for thrills” on vulnerable patients at Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea are being charged as adults, according to Fox News. The remaining four suspects are charged with failing to report the incidents and will be tried as juveniles.
When we first brought you this story in August, only four aides had been charged in the case that has horrified family members of the suspects’ victims. A coworker revealed to the nursing home that she was aware of the accused aides allegedly holding down residents, putting their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their cries and screams, hitting and rubbing their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humping” some residents. The aides called the abuse “work fun or to get a good laugh.”
But it was no laughing matter. The adults in the case, 19-year-old Brianna Broitzman and 18-year-old Ashton Larson, are charged with assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failure to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors. The Freeborn County Attorney says they will likely face suspended jail sentences and probation.
The abuse apparently began early this year and lasted for several months. Family members were told in May that something had occurred but did not get details until August. Three of the 15 residents have died and the others cannot be interviewed by investigators because they suffer from diseases that affect memory and cognition.