Teen girls charged with abusing nursing-home residents

The eight high school students had worked together part-time at the Good Samaritan nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn.

And, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday, the girls also laughed together early this year as they spat in the mouths of frail residents, poked and groped their breasts and genitals, and at times taunted them until they screamed — or witnessed those events.

Charged Monday with maltreatment of seven residents were Brianna Marie Broitzman, 19, who faces 11 charges, and Ashton Michelle Larson, 18, who faces 10.

The six others, all 17 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, were identified only by birthdates and initials. Four were charged Monday in juvenile court with failure to report maltreatment.

The allegations became public in August when state health department inspectors concluded that four aides, to make their “work fun,” had abused 15 elderly residents.

Broitzman and Larson were charged Monday with fifth-degree assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failing to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors, with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine for each count.

If found guilty, “they most likely will face suspended jail sentences and probation, so they’d have the threat of jail hanging over them if they get in more trouble,” said Freeborn County Attorney Craig Nelson, who filed the charges Monday.

The incidents allegedly occurred between Jan. 1 and May 1. The home fired the four aides cited in the health department report soon after it learned of the allegations in May.

Since summer, Nelson has said that prosecuting the aides could prove difficult because the evidence is largely based on their own statements and those made by another aide who blew the whistle to the home’s administrators while she was being fired for swearing in front of a resident. That aide was among those charged as a juvenile.

The health department’s Office of Health Facilities Complaints investigated the allegations in May. It said all 15 of the abused residents had Alzheimer’s disease or a similar dementia, and some were combative, easily agitated or blind.