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A local attorney will be traveling to Washington, D.C, this week to talk about problems that can arise when sexual predators and violent criminals are placed in personal care and nursing homes — including the effect on the owners of such businesses.

Attorney Sean McDonough knows about the issues first-hand, through his representation of an Alzheimer’s patient raped in 2002. At the time, the 86-year-old woman was a resident of Country Living Personal Care Home in Nicholson, as was the rapist, 31-year-old Daniel Statham.

The Sunday Times does not publish names of sexual assault victims.

Mr. Statham was mentally disabled and a sexually violent predator who landed at the home after completing a six-year prison sentence for an aggravated indecent assault involving a 14-year-old girl in Wayne County.

“He was eligible for (disability payments), and that’s the reason he was there” Mr. McDonough said.

Award gains attention

It was a Times-Tribune news story about a $1.1 million award Mr. McDonough obtained for the elderly victim that catapulted him onto a national stage.

After reading the story, Wes Bledsoe, an Oklahoma City, Okla., man who advocates for nursing home residents’ rights, contacted Mr. McDonough.

“What I’ve been doing for the last five years is analyzing — researching the impact of placing predators in nursing homes,” Mr. Bledsoe said. “It’s shocking to think that these things could happen in America.”

Mr. Bledsoe will be meeting Mr. McDonough and several other-s in Washington on Wednesday to testify before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Small Business, The topic will be the impact predators in long-term care can have on small-business owners.

“It’s an opportunity to be heard,” Mr. Bledsoe said. “We can tell them what happens to these
(business owners) and what happens to the patients, families and staff.”

Legislation urged

Both believe legislators could help protect residents of nursing homes and personal care homes by passing new laws and strengthening regulations. Mr., Bledsoe said Oklahoma legislators passed laws last month that set up regulations for a new kind of privately run nursing home designed specifically for patients who are sexual predators and violent criminals.

In Pennsylvania, anyone who will use state or federal money to pay for nursing home care is evaluated by the local Area Agency on Aging, according to director Teresa Osborne.

Anyone identified as having “behavioral health problems,” including violent or predatory behavior, will be brought to the attention of the state Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, part of the state Department of Public Welfare.

Staffers there will identify the needs of the patient and decide whether a nursing home would be appropriate, Ms. Osborne said.

“They’ll look at other options, including state hospitals,” she said. “And there are nursing homes in Pennsylvania (that provide) specialized care for these types of cases.”

There are no such procedures for personal care homes, though. And if the state Department of Public Welfare decides that a person with a history of violent or predatory behavior belongs in a nursing home, it’s still the nursing home’s decision to accept that patient.

Ms. Osborne said nursing home and personal care home owners and operators have the responsibility of meeting the needs of someone with behavioral problems and protecting their other residents. That doesn’t always happen, Mr. Bledsoe and Mr. McDonough said.

“Most nursing homes have a one-size-fits-all model,” Mr. Bledsoe said. “It’s insane to think people who are violent or (sexual predators) should be placed somewhere with a vulnerable population.”

Mr. McDonough says his testimony before the congressional subcommittee isn’t meant to castigate owners of nursing and personal care homes.

“I want to help,” he said. “The government really needs to consider adopting some type of regulations to deal with this issue.”

The owner of a Wyoming County assisted-living facility did not alert her staff that a resident who sexually assaulted an 86-year-old Alzheimer’s patient four years ago was a convicted sexual offender, the victim’s attorney said during a federal negligence trial Monday.

The victim, now 90, is seeking more than $75,000 from Country Living Personal Care Home, Nicholson, and its owner, Shirley D. Sheridan,? of Montrose, resulting from the sexual assault on Feb. 27, 2002. It is the Times-Tribune’s policy not to name sexual-assault victims.

The woman was a resident of the home when she was sexually assaulted in her room by Daniel Statham, then 31 and a resident of Country Living, her complaint states.

Mr. Statham, who is mentally handicapped, was a convicted sexually violent predator who should not have been living at the home because of the danger he posed to others, the victim’s attorney, Sean McDonough, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Blewitt at the non jury trial.

The victim, now of Millington, Tenn., and her son, also of Millington, allege the facility and Mrs. Sheridan disregarded her safety and rights, which resulted in the assault. Mrs. Sheridan has stated she did not know Mr. Statham was a convicted sex offender and “Megan’s Law” violator.

Mr. Statham was convicted in 1995 in Wayne County Court of aggravated indecent assault involving a 14-year-old girl and was sentenced to six years in state prison, court records show. After his release in 2001, he was charged in Northumberland County for failing to register as a sexual predator under the state’s “Megan’s Law.” He was placed on supervised probation by a county judge and ordered to live in a halfway house in Scranton and get counseling.

Mr. Statham was to be put on a bus to Scranton. Somehow, Northumberland County sheriffs deputies took him to the Omni Health Personal Care Home in Montrose, Susquehanna County, also owned by Mrs. Sheridan.

Court papers indicate Lackawanna County officials were unable to find a place for Mr. Statham to reside, and he was moved to Country Living on Oct. 26, 2001.

Mrs. Sheridan knew Mr. Statham was a convicted sexual offender, Mr. McDonough charged, but did not notify the staff of the home. “She exposed (the victim) to a terrible risk,” he said.
Attorney Eugene Hickey, who represents Country Living and Mrs. Sheridan, denied the home was at fault. Mrs. Sheridan did not know the man’s criminal history or that he was a threat, he said, or she never would have admitted him to the home.

“This isn’t a case of reckless indifference,” Mr. Hickey said. He said Mr. Statham was “dumped” on the home.

State police arrested Mr. Statham on April 8, 2002. He pleaded guilty Feb. 12, 2003, to aggravated indecent assault and was sentenced to five to 10 years in a state prison.