Ramsey County cuts support for sex offender day-treatment center

11-18-2014 Minnesota:

Dane Jorento does the kind of job most people would pay to avoid. For the past nine years, he's been the director of ABC Mental Health Therapy, an East Side day-treatment center that works with sex offenders who suffer from traumatic brain injury, developmental delays, autism and various forms of mental illness.

The nonprofit clinic is one of three agencies in the metro area that offer group therapy to low-IQ sex offenders. They range from peeping Toms to convicted rapists. Of the three agencies, only ABC is targeted to low-income clients.

And within weeks, ABC may close its doors.

Ramsey County made the decision last year to discontinue its two day-treatment therapy contracts by Dec. 31, although the county has offered ABC an extension through March 31, 2015.

"The day treatment services ABC provides are no longer in alignment with the state and county direction towards individualized treatment plans and contemporary evidence-based practices," said John Siqveland, a spokesman for Ramsey County.

New lawsuit filed in case over abuse at Minn. nursing home

11-11-2010 Missouri:

A seventh lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in South Dakota on behalf of a deceased victim in a high-profile Minnesota elder abuse case.

Kenneth Hojberg's family filed a lawsuit Monday against the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society of South Dakota about abuse that occurred in 2008 at the company's Albert Lea home.

Hojberg died Oct. 15.

Civil lawsuits in Minnesota die with the victim, but the claims remain open for litigation in South Dakota.

Albert Lea residents Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson, both 20, were charged with assault, abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver and failure to report abuse. Four other women were charged as juveniles with failure to report.

Broitzman was sentenced Oct. 22 to 180 days in jail. Larson will be sentenced in December.

A 2008 investigation by the Minnesota Department of Health states that Broitzman and Larson were leaders of a group of young employees who poked residents in the breasts, rubbed their genitals, held them down until they screamed, hit them with canes and exposed their buttocks to other residents.

Hojberg's lawsuit, like the six filed in South Dakota before it, claims that Good Samaraitan failed to properly screen or monitor its employees.

The company cooperated with law enforcement once the incident was reported, however, according to police and court records.

Sioux Falls is home to the corporate offices of the Good Samaritan Society. ..Source.. by John Hult

Former Albert Lea nursing home worker sentenced to 180 days in jail

10-22-2010 Minnesota:

ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- A woman who entered a plea deal in August on charges she abused elderly women at an Albert Lea nursing home was sentenced Friday.

A Freeborn County District Court judge sentence Brianna Broitzman, 21, to 180 days in jail as a staggered sentence.

Boitzman will serve the first 60 days of the sentence immediately in the custody of the Freeborn County Sheriff's Department. The next 60 days are scheduled to be served in May of 2011, and the last 60 will be in October of 2011.

RELATED: Minn. woman makes plea deal in nursing home abuse case

RELATED: 6 teens charged in Albert Lea nursing home abuse

Broitzman was among several nursing aides accused of mistreating residents at the Good Samaritan Society in 2008 by groping, poking, taunting and simulating sex acts on them. The women are also accused of spanking and spitting on patients at the nursing home.

Broitzman can petition the court to remove her final 120 days pending her initial 60 days in jail. She was also sentenced to two years probation, during which she is not allowed to be in a caregiving role, she's not allowed to have contact with vulnerable adults without the permission of the court and is required to make herself available to meet with victim's families if they so request.

Four other aides were charged in juvenile court with not reporting the alleged abuse. ..Source.. by KARE11.com

Family sues S.D.-based company in elder abuse case

10-4-2010 Minnesota:

Another lawsuit stemming from a high-profile elder abuse case at a Minnesota nursing home has been filed in U.S. District Court of South Dakota.

The family of Sylvia Wulff, a deceased victim of the alleged abuse at the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minn., filed the lawsuit against the South Dakota-based company on Sept. 29 in Sioux Falls.

Albert Lea residents Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson, both 20, were charged with assault, abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver, failure to report abuse and other charges. Broitzman pleaded guilty in August to three counts of disorderly conduct by a caregiver.

Four other women were charged as juveniles with failure to report.

A Minnesota Department of Health investigation in 2008 concluded that the two led a group of young employees at the facility who poked residents in the breasts, rubbed their genitals, held them down until they screamed, hit them with canes and exposed their buttocks to other residents.

The lawsuit claims the company failed to properly screen or monitor the employees at the Albert Lea facility. Court documents show that the company cooperated with law enforcement once the incident was reported.

Civil suits in Minnesota die with the victim, but the claims are still open for litigation in South Dakota. Sioux Falls is home to the corporate offices of the Good Samaritan Society.

Wulff is the sixth deceased victim whose case has migrated to South Dakota. Previous suits were filed in April and June. ..Source.. by John Hult