Members of an elder abuse task force are reviewing the language and changes of a proposed bill that would place elder abusers on lists like sexual offenders are placed on lists.
State Sen. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-27, has been working with the task force to review Senate Bill 885, which will provide a statewide registry of perpetrators of abuse in facilities, and Senate Bill 261, which would remove the statute of limitations for crimes committed against a nonverbal care-dependent person.
“We wanted an opportunity to tweak the bill and make it better,” Culver said. “We wanted to discuss the impacts and the consequences that we may not have intended, and then get it back to the task force for review. We will recirculate it for co-sponsorship and then reintroduce it.”
The task consists of Culver, Union County District Attorney Brian Kerstetter; Buffalo Valley Regional Police Patrolman Gary V. Heckman; attorney Erica C. Wilson, of Murray, Stone & Wilson PLLC, in West Conshohocken; advocate Kim Rigel and Lynn Fiedler, the daughter of elder abuse victim Alice Longenberger.
Culver said there may not be a need for committee hearings or testimony.
“We’re in that conversation now,” she said. “We may not need it. We’re working with some other members (of the Pennsylvania General Assembly) now until we get to where we need to be. We really want this to be a comprehensive bill that cleans the language up so that law enforcement has the tools necessary to make arrests and the district attorney offices have the tools necessary to prosecute.”
The intention is to call it Alice’s Law in honor of Fiedler’s mother. Longenberger was one of 17 older individuals at Heritage Springs Memory Care in Lewisburg allegedly targeted by two young employees. The employees are accused of taking numerous nude and demeaning photographs and videos of residents between December 2022 and April 2023 at Heritage Springs Memory Care, 327 Farley Circle, Lewisburg.
“Families take this kind of care seriously, but they can still be taken advantage of and face exploitation and abuse,” Culver said. “We need to make sure the changes are the same across the board. I look at this as the first bill of many. Once we get this through, our plan is to look at other ways to strengthen the laws that protect our senior citizens. We’re not going to stop until we feel our seniors are adequately protected.”
Senate bills
Senate Bill 885 and Senate Bill 261 were originally introduced in 2023 by state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-33. SB 885 proposed an amendment to the act of Nov. 6, 1987, known as the Older Adults Protective Services Act, that would provide for a statewide registry of perpetrators of abuse in facilities. SB 261 would amend Title 42 to add serious crimes committed against a nonverbal care-dependent person to the other existing seven offenses in which a prosecution can be commenced at any time.
“We’re moving at really good pace,” Fiedler said. “We have such a dedicated task force. They show up for meetings and they come highly prepared. Everyone is invested because they realize the importance of this. There’s a lack of protection for this population.”
Fiedler said she is confident that these first two bills will be passed. It’s also the first of more to come, she said.
“We are part of a very big percentage of an aging society,” she said. “We need to make changes, we need revisions to current bills and we need new bills to better protect our older population.”
Employees charged
Madison Laine Cox, 19, of Pinchtown Road, Montgomery, and an unidentified then-17-year-old male resident who turned 18 in August, allegedly posed with patients in the shower or on the toilet, took pictures of patients who had defecated themselves or had fallen to the ground and took videos of themselves demeaning or harassing individuals, according to court documents filed by Buffalo Valley Regional Police.
They allegedly sent those records to each other, shared them on the phone app Snapchat, and showed them to classmates at a school, police said.
The victims range in age from 69 to 100 years old. The majority of people residing at Heritage Springs Memory Care in Lewisburg are in various stages of Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia, which limits or severely impedes their cognitive abilities, police said.
In November, the unidentified male was adjudicated in Union County Court on 17 of the 34 counts and his disposition was transferred to his home county in Lycoming County. Adjudication for a juvenile is the functional equivalent of being found guilty in an adult criminal procedure. A disposition hearing in juvenile court is akin to a sentencing hearing in adult court.
The juvenile was sentenced on April 11 in front of Lycoming County Judge Ryan M. Tira, but the judge would not release the sentencing results for the defendant. Due to being charged as a minor, the court proceedings are not open to the public and The Daily Item does not print the names of juvenile defendants unless charged as an adult.
Cox in February pleaded guilty to 12 misdemeanors: one count of criminal conspiracy to commit abuse of a care-dependent person and 11 counts of abuse of a care-dependent person. Union County Judge Michael Piecuch last week rejected the plea deal, which places Cox’s case back on the pre-trial list where the commonwealth can either take the matter to trial or negotiate another plea deal with the defense.
Cox is
scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. today in front of Union County
Judge Michael Piecuch. Cox pleaded guilty in February to 12
misdemeanors: one count of criminal conspiracy to commit abuse of a
care-dependent person and 11 counts of abuse of a care-dependent person.
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Elder abuse task force reviewing proposed bills
