LaFayette Nursing home employee charged with aggravated sodomy after sexual assaulting patient

LaFayette Police Chief says three more residents of the PruittHealth Shepherd Hills facility have come forward with reports of sexual assault against Henrii Hosue Reynoso. The Police Chief also expects more employees of the Shepherd Hills facility to face charges for failure to report elderly abuse as required by law. Chief Clift says state investigators were inside the nursing home interviewing residents Friday. LaFayette Police Detectives say Reynoso is in the country legally as a DACA recipient, but is not a US citizen. Detectives also said that Reynoso was not certified to be working as a CNA inside the facility. Due to an exemption issued by the state of Georgia and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to keep nursing homes from becoming understaffed during COVID-19, Reynoso was able to work in a CNA position when the sexual assault occurred. According a LaFayette Police Department incident report, a Detective Owens interviewed Peggy Bohannon the head sure and Stacy Jackson a social worker after the alleged assault. According to the report Bohannon who was the head nurse the night of the incident was notified by a CNA of the assault, and that Bohannon advised social worker Stacy Jackson about it. Detective Owens reported, "Mrs. Bohannon stated that she moved Mr. Reynoso to the north wing to work so he would not be around the victim and advised me that she and Mr. Jackson had agreed that they would go speak with the victim a later time when it wasn't so busy." "Mrs. Bohannon stated that she never went and spoke to the victim and never reported the incident her supervisors or law enforcement authorities." Bohannon she was off a few days and was reminded of the incident when she returned to work on October 20th, when the victim questioned her about it. Even then no law enforcement officials weren't contacted. Bohannon and Jackson were each charged with Abuse, Neglect, or Exploitation of a Disabled Adult or Elder Person.

Previous press release:

On October 20th, The LaFayette Police Department was notified of a reported sexual assault that occurred between an employee and a patient at Pruitt Health Care Shepherd Hills located at 800 Patterson Road LaFayette Georgia.

The LaFayette Police Department conducted an investigation, and it was discovered that the patient reported the sexual assault to staff of Pruitt Health Care Shepherd Hills on October 16th. The staff of Pruitt Health Care Shepherd Hills failed to report the Incident to Law Enforcement as required by O.C.G.A 30-5-8. The Incident was reported to Law Enforcement by a concerned family member of the victim on the evening of October 20th. As a result of the investigation, Henrii Hosue Reynoso was charged with Aggravated Sodomy and is currently wanted on this charge. The investigation also led to charges being filed against Stacy Jackson and Peggy Bohannon, employees of Pruitt Health Care Shepherd Hills, for Failure to Report Abuse of Elder Person.

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LaFayette Nursing home employee charged with aggravated sodomy after sexual assaulting patient

Audit: State failing elderly victims of abuse, neglect

By Brad Schrade

A state audit identified damning new evidence that Georgia’s system to protect seniors and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation is failing and the breakdowns are causing additional harm.

Among the significant gaps cited in Friday’s report by State Auditor Greg S. Griffin on Georgia’s Adult Protective Services system was that investigators are taking too long to respond to urgent cases, such as when the elderly were going hungry or were sexually abused. One year, some 500 vulnerable adults facing serious situations waited three days or more before an investigator arrived. APS employees also were rejecting reports that should have been investigated, the audit found.

The system failures leave thousands of elderly and disabled adults at risk. The report says one in 10 older Georgians may be victims of abuse, neglect or exploitation during their lifetimes.

Failures of law enforcement to communicate with APS play prominently in the breakdowns, the audit found.

Multiple law enforcement personnel the auditors interviewed indicated they don’t report all cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation to APS, despite statutory requirements to do so.

The audit noted that law enforcement officers “are hesitant to report cases that involve certain types of victims or abuse.” Officers said they prefer to handle cases themselves because of negative experience with APS or a belief that APS is overworked and can’t handle all the cases reported.

And nearly half of law enforcement officials surveyed in Georgia and more than half of district attorneys surveyed didn’t have a firm grasp on Adult Protective Services’ critical role in helping victims.

Reporting is haphazard, depending on what county the victim lives in, the audit indicates. Cobb and Gwinnett, for example, have about the same number of vulnerable adults. But in fiscal 2018, Cobb reported 50 percent more cases to APS. Law enforcement in the two counties had an even larger disparity.

In 29 counties across Georgia there were no reports from law enforcement, and another 24 had just one report for 2018.

“If reports are not made, victims cannot obtain potentially necessary services and may be at continued risk for future occurrences of abuse, neglect, or exploitation,” the report concludes.

The audit was also critical of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It notes that after the General Assembly approved funding in fiscal year 2016 to hire eight agents to focus on elder abuse, GBI didn’t use the funds to hire the allotted additional agents. Instead, it trained an agent in each of its 15 regions to be a resource on elder abuse. The audit questioned how effective the agency has been in addressing elder abuse, although the agency in its response said it had increased its caseload.

The audit also took aim at the way APS manages calls for help. The office only accepts calls from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. That can lead to delays for reports that come in at night and on weekends, when the agency’s website in the only way to report a call.

Auditors also found the APS lacks any systematic way to analyze its work and ensure the decisions on cases are consistent and appropriate. As a result, the agency may be rejecting cases that warrant investigation. In FY 2018, 6,300 cases were rejected and 41 percent of those had no documented reason in the case file for why the decision was made.

About 40% of cases alleging sexual abuse were classified as standard cases, despite an APS policy that such allegations should be designated as priority.

The breakdowns point to the need for significant training and awareness across Georgia’s system.

The Department of Human Services, which oversees APS across the state, generally agreed with the report’s findings. It noted that it has expanded training and outreach to law enforcement and other mandated reporters through its At-Risk Adult Crime Tactics training program that has educated more than 3,000 front-line workers across the state on how to recognize and report abuse. It also noted that it believes policies about investigator response to categorizing reports as standard or priority are confusing and need review.

It did not agree with the recommendation to change its business hours, nor with the recommendation that it lacks a process to ensure decisions are appropriate.

While APS investigates abuse, neglect and exploitation and connects victims with services in the community, it is not the only state agency tasked with protecting seniors from abuse and neglect.

The agency is not responsible for investigating reports of abuse and neglect in state-licensed facilities.

But the audit mirrors similar problems identified by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in its recent investigation of assisted living and personal care homes. The AJC found that the Department of Community Health, which is responsible for investigating cases in state-licensed homes, had gaps in its oversight. The AJC also found significant problems with the way police and regulators communicate, which led to few crimes ever being prosecuted.

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Audit: State failing elderly victims of abuse, neglect

Troubled Collierville nursing home gets new owner

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COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — A troubled nursing home in Collierville is getting more complaints but is also seeing some changes with a new owner.

Poplar Oaks Rehabilitation and Healthcare has been fined in the past after regulators found, among many things, the nursing home didn’t property report abuse allegations.

Jo Ann Henderson said she doesn’t have fond memories of being in Poplar Oaks.

“You feel like you’re in prison or something, I don’t know. It’s just not a good feeling," she said.

Henderson said in her month-long stay last year, workers were rough with her and often ignored her.

“You could call them and they wouldn’t come or nothing.”

She and her daughter wanted to speak about the conditions after seeing WREG’s story on a different patient sent to the hospital with bad bruising.

“And now she's all, it's infected and stuff and she can`t open it. So I'm like, it's like real bad," said Bernard, talking about her mother.

They filed a police report for that case, saying the stories of what happened don’t add up.

We’ve heard from several families alleging abuse and neglect to their loved ones at the one-star nursing home.

Henderson’s daughter said she’d visit every day and was regularly upset by what she saw.

“Mom laid in her urine for a whole night. Several times. I’d come in every day and she’d be laying in her urine," said Theresa Reed.

She says workers would ignore her when she asked for fresh linens, so sometimes, she’d have to do it herself.

“They never cleaned the room, but maybe once or twice mopped the floor. They never cleaned the bathroom.”

Henderson was there for a month after she got a trach put in.

She has COPD and congestive heart failure. She’d been in several facilities before, but this one shook her and her loved ones up.

“She just said she was scared to say anything because of the way they treated her and we told her she didn’t have to worry about it, she wasn’t going to ever go back there.”

Poplar Oaks changed ownership in October and is now named Collierville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The new owner is listed as ClearView Healthcare. The business license shows the principal office is in New Jersey.

It’s the same address listed for the Midtown Center for Health and Rehabilitation’s principal office — another one-star nursing home in our area.

The Midtown Center was fined more than $32,000 in 2016 after a state inspection found, among other things, workers not following pressure ulcer care plans. It caused patients’ conditions to worsen.

Their state inspections have improved, but families hope to see much more progress, especially in Collierville.

“I think they need to close it down and then start all over because it’s going to get worse. I feel like it is," said Jo Ann Henderson.

We reached out to the state health department to see if any of these complaints are being looked into. A spokesperson said they can’t confirm nor deny pending investigations.

We also reached out to the new owner for the Collierville nursing home and are working to find out what’s being done to improve conditions.



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Troubled Collierville nursing home gets new owner

Failing Care: Ensuring crimes against nursing home residents are reported

For decades, the federal government has attempted to address concerns over the quality of nursing home care in the U.S. It was only recently, though, that federal law included reporting requirements with sanctions for crimes against the elderly.

Since 2010, federal law has required nursing home providers to report the reasonable suspicion of a crime against residents to police and state oversight agencies, which in Pennsylvania includes the departments of Health, Aging and Adult Protective Services.

Reports to the state Health Department are confidential to encourage self-reporting. But a Reading Eagle review of state inspections over the past three years found many suspected abuse cases go unreported.

With 10,000 Americans turning 65 each day and studies showing as many as 1 in 10 seniors nationally have been a victim, elder abuse is a problem that is only expected to grow.

Advocates worry unreported crimes will likely be repeated, putting nursing home residents at greater risk. And industry leaders expressed concern that police don't investigate when nursing homes do report suspected abuse to law enforcement.

The pressing question then, is: Can anything be done about it?

Although single solutions alone are unlikely to significantly improve reporting, generally accepted strategies include greater oversight and enforcement, police training and better state laws that make the entire process more open and transparent.

But it all starts with nursing homes complying with federal law.

"If facilities aren't reporting these events immediately, it ties the hands of the police," said Sam Brooks, an attorney with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.

'Something terrible is going on'

The penalties for not reporting are already stiff, with fines up to $300,000 and exclusion from federal participation in health care programs.

However, neither the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, nor the state Health Department have penalized nursing homes for failing to report abuse.

The reason?

In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General determined that CMS "has inadequate procedures to ensure that incidents of potential abuse or neglect of Medicare beneficiaries residing in (Skilled Nursing Facilities) are identified and reported."

Advocates for the elderly found the report troubling and called into question the Health Department's oversight role.

"The magnitude of this report is just stunning," Brooks said. "CMS has done nothing to enforce it. This is scandalous."

The Inspector General's report identified more than 100 incidents of potential neglect and abuse nationally. To do so, auditors matched emergency room data with Medicare reimbursements to find suspected nursing home abuse cases hidden in medical payments.

Five cases were flagged in Pennsylvania and referred to the state attorney general's office. Joe Grace, spokesman for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment about the referred cases.

"They haven't taken any enforcement actions because the DHHS secretary didn't delegate the authority yet," said Dave Lamir, a regional inspector general who worked the team of auditors that produced the report. "They didn't identify anything because they don't conduct a data match like we did."

The report determined that CMS needs to beef up procedures that identify potential abuse and neglect, specifically using a data match similar to the one their auditors employed.

Because the entire process in Pennsylvania - from the initial report through the investigation - is undisclosed, it cannot be independently scrutinized to know whether the system is protecting nursing home residents.

Researchers and advocates alike said it was unconscionable that state regulations could shield information on nursing home abuse from the public.

"They don't want to release the data because it's going to be obvious when you get the data that something terrible is going on," said Charlene Harrington, a University of California at San Francisco professor emeritus of sociology and nursing who has studied the industry for decades.

Harrington added, "They're trying to hide the fact that they're not doing their job."

'A right to know'

While state Health Department officials here worry that without confidentiality nursing homes won't comply with federal law, California has posted the outcomes of its substantiated investigations online since 2015.

The agency has not ever had "a concern that facilities would stop self-reporting incidents" if made public, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Many of the biggest nursing home chains in Pennsylvania - Genesis Healthcare, ManorCare and GoldenLiving - also operate in California, where this information is released to the public.

Retired California state Sen. Elaine Alquist sponsored much of the legislation that overhauled nursing home oversight in the Golden State, including the creation of a system for timely reporting, stiffer penalties and public access.

"In the law, there needs to be a more defined link between nursing home abuse and public safety," Alquist said. "The public needs to know who the bad apples are."

In Pennsylvania, state law doesn't permit releasing information on abuse reports - even aggregated tallies - effectively leaving the public in the dark about what nursing homes are and are not doing to protect residents.

For Alquist, statewide aggregated report totals aren't enough.

"You need actionable information," Alquist said. "The public has a right to know. We're talking about an extremely vulnerable population."

Neither Acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine nor Aging Secretary Teresa Osborne would comment for this story on whether they favored greater transparency and supported changes in state law.

In speaking for both agencies, Health Department spokeswoman April Hutcheson, though, said in statement to the newspaper that they support the General Assembly updating laws that better protect seniors.

"Wholesale culture change begins with education, enforcement of regulations and evaluating our current regulations, all which is underway," Hutcheson said in an email to the Eagle. "Legislation and regulation alone will not improve nursing homes, but working together will."

Last year, the nursing home task force and auditor general both recommended revising current regulations, which haven't been updated in nearly four decades. Despite being pressed on its status, Hutcheson declined to elaborate.

State Sens. Judy Schwank of Ruscombmanor Township and Art Haywood of Montgomery County, both Democrats who sit on the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said the reporting and transparency issues the Eagle has raised deserve further investigation.

State Rep. Mark M. Gillen, who is a co-sponsor of a House bill this session that would amend the statute addressing neglect of a care-dependent person, said any reform effort would require collaboration and resources for more effective deterrence, reporting and prosecution.

"Pennsylvania is graying," the Robeson Township Republican said. "I think we're long overdue for a more surgical examination of our caregiver facilities so that the tragedies of yesteryear don't repeat themselves."

'Shake the trees'

When it comes to protecting elders from abuse, there are a number of impediments at each step in the process, but none more frustrating than police inaction.

"The police don't do anything when we call," said Eric Kiehl, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a statewide member organization for nursing homes. "We can't do the investigation."

Although the Berks County district attorney's office does not have a designated elder abuse unit, per se, it does have two detectives and an assistant DA working these cases.

Fewer than 10 cases a year in Berks stem from elder abuse investigations. Most referrals, Berks DA John T. Adams said, come through the Berks County Area Agency on Aging.

The reason more are not prosecuted - advocates and those in law enforcement agree - are the inherent challenges that come with elder abuse cases.

"Many times we're dealing with individuals who may have been found not to be competent or have a guardian appointed," Adams said. "Those are very difficult cases."

Because the district attorney's office is not the responding agency, mounting a prosecution hinges on the decisions made by local law enforcement, some of which are not 24-7 responders, let alone trained in how to handle elder abuse cases.

The San Diego County district attorney tapped Paul Greenwood, now a nationally recognized expert and in-demand speaker on elder abuse, to head up an elder abuse unit in 1996. He started first by talking to police officers and sheriff's deputies, asking why they didn't refer any cases for prosecution.

Before long, a familiar refrain emerged: the elderly just don't make good witnesses.

After two decades and 500 felony prosecutions, Greenwood blames police reluctance on a lack of training and laziness. Police and prosecutors often find other cases more attractive.

"I think this is where the elected district attorneys of Pennsylvania need to become much more proactive and not just expect these cases to fall in their lap, because they don't," Greenwood said.

The way Greenwood sees it, combating this requires prosecutors to take the initiative."We've got to be the ones to shake the trees," he said.

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Failing Care: Ensuring crimes against nursing home residents are reported