by Doug Schneider and Chris Mueller
Note: This story has been updated to correct that the assisted living facility is in the town of Ledgeview.
LEDGEVIEW - A woman with cognitive disabilities was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident of an assisted living facility, but staff didn't notify the woman's family or police, or get her prompt medical care, a lawsuit alleges.
Instead, staff at Caraton Commons 2 on Arcadian Lane in Ledgeview were directed to clean up the woman and lock her inside her room, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Brown County. The woman's guardian, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, would not find out what happened until four days later.
Lester Pines, the woman's attorney, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette on Tuesday that the behavior of the facility's management was "inexplicable."
The woman, a 57-year-old born with Down syndrome and diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, was sexually assaulted April 10 by a male resident of the facility, which is owned by Assisted Living by Hillcrest, the complaint says.
Pines said a jury will have to hear the evidence and "provide compensation for the horrible thing that happened to our client."
"When a person is suffering from an illness like Alzheimer's, where it impairs verbal ability, that person is suffering in silence," Pines said. "A person who can't verbalize has to deal with that internally forever. That's a big deal and it's horrible."
Ann Patteson, an attorney with Renning Lewis & Lacy, said in a statement sent to the Press-Gazette Tuesday evening that "Assisted Living By Hillcrest LLC (ALBH) takes any allegations regarding residents’ care very seriously." Patteson said Assisted Living By Hillcrest notified the state regarding the alleged incident and "fully cooperated with its review."
"While ALBH was only recently served with the civil complaint filed by attorney Lester Pines, it has tendered the defense to its insurance company, and is awaiting their handling of the case," said Patteson in the statement. "ALBH is committed to providing a safe and caring environment for its residents, and will respond to all allegations through the appropriate channels."
The male resident was known to staff at the facility "to have engaged in a disturbing and continuous pattern of inappropriate sexual behaviors toward other residents," including a prior unreported sexual assault of another resident, the complaint says.
Still, Caraton Commons took no "meaningful steps to monitor or control (the male resident's) dangerous behavior," but warned the male resident's guardian that the facility would impose one-to-one supervision "if he were to sexually assault another resident," the complaint says.
The woman, who has since been moved to a different facility, is in "frail physical health" and is "unable to protect herself from an assault, sexual or otherwise, and is not verbally able to call for help," the complaint says. She relied on staff for all of her needs, including eating, clothing, bathing and going to the bathroom.
The woman's family is "doing their best to ensure that she is as comfortable as possible," Pines said.
The male resident had been moved to the woman's building from another Caraton Commons building on April 1, the complaint says. Three days later, he was found in another resident's room on five separate occasions, standing over the sleeping resident while exposing himself.
A day before he allegedly sexually assaulted the woman, staff took note that the male resident "continues to seek out vulnerable residents," but took no further steps to protect other residents, the complaint says.
When a staff member entered the woman's room shortly before dinner on April 10, she found the male resident sexually assaulting the woman, who was crying, the complaint says. Before the male resident left the room, he told the staff member: "I know I'm a molester."
The woman "was crying from the moment I entered (her) room," a staff member says in a 20-page report prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and was "still noticeably distressed" days later.
An administrator directed staff to clean the woman, lock her room and "keep an eye on (the male resident)," the complaint says. Nobody from the facility told the woman's guardian or any family member what had happened. Nobody reported the sexual assault to police.
"We don't know what their explanation is, but there doesn't seem to be any explanation," Pines said. "They allowed his conduct to continue."
When a social worker attempted to visit the woman April 14, four days after the assault, she found the door to the woman's room locked, the complaint says. That social worker contacted the guardian, "who was distraught and who confirmed that no one from Hillcrest had informed them of the assault."
The guardian then contacted police and drove to Caraton Commons. The guardian arranged to have the woman taken to a Green Bay hospital for an examination, which revealed multiple injuries, including bruises, scratches and abrasions to her hips, shin, buttocks and inner thigh, as well as scratches to her jaw, the complaint says.
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