Thursday, September 3, 2020

Nursing home residents concerned about sex offender

by: Keagan Harsha

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — There are hundreds of residents living inside Cherry Creek Nursing Center in Aurora, and none likely have a more checkered past than John Royce.

Royce is a registered sex offender with a lengthy arrest record that includes more than two dozen charges.

Among them are charges for child sex assault, multiple DUI’s, and multiple charges for failing to register as a sex offender.

Several residents and staff members at the Cherry Creek Nursing Center spoke with the FOX31 Problem Solvers about Royce, upset that they were never notified he was living in the building.

“It ticks me off. I’m a single female in a room by myself. I couldn’t run from somebody,” a female resident told the Problem Solvers.

Residents and some staff members are livid they weren’t notified about Royce’s sex offender status, but it turns out the nursing home doesn’t have to notify them.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations tells the Problem Solvers there is no law that states a nursing home has to notify residents there is a sex offender living there.

However, sex offenders do have to register with local law enforcement within a few days of moving to a neighborhood.

Royce did not do that. The FOX31 Problem Solvers contacted him. He says he hasn’t registered because of health problems, claiming he was recently hospitalized prior to moving to Cherry Creek Nursing Center.

“It was the hospital’s fault. I didn’t even know where I was going. When I got here I told them I need to register and they said register for what?” Royce said.

The FOX31 Problem Solvers reached out to Nexion Health, which manages Cherry Creek Nursing Center. Neixon did not answer our questions about the nursing home’s policies regarding sex offenders, instead sending this statement:
“Cherry Creek Nursing Center works hard to provide individualized care plans for all of its residents and to supervise the care of all residents. Due to the federal HIPAA privacy law and Colorado privacy law, we cannot respond to media requests for discussion of the care of individual residents.
Aurora Police say they are looking into the situation.

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Nursing home residents concerned about sex offender

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