Lawmakers solving wrong problem

4-21-2012 Iowa:

Dementia patients a bigger threat than sex abusers

A 95-year-old woman says she was sexually assaulted by William Cubbage while they were both living in Pomeroy Care Center. The man, who is 83 and has dementia, was sent to the nursing home by a judge. The home did not inform residents he was a convicted sex offender. The alleged assault was witnessed by an 8-year-old girl visiting on a school trip. Now the woman has filed lawsuits against both the state and the nursing home.

It’s the kind of troubling story that garners a lot of public attention. State lawmakers rightly feel compelled to respond. Unfortunately, they are doing what they frequently do when it comes to sex offenders: playing politics while crafting bad legislation.

On Wednesday, Iowa’s elected officials argued over who could be tougher on offenders who are so disabled they have to live in nursing homes, assisted living centers or residential care facilities.

“You acknowledged that you allow rapists next to grandmothers,”a Republican yelled. You “let sexually violent predators into a nursing home … and somehow refer to that as leadership?” a Democrat replied.

But what changes do they want to make in Iowa’s law?

The Iowa House passed legislation clarifying homes are not required to admit people ordered to them by a court. Facilities will have to check the names of all applicants against the state sex offender registry. If they admit someone on the registry, the home must provide written notice to numerous people, including residents, visitors and the county sheriff.

Man convicted of 1979 kidnapping of 11-year-old girl dies

3-19-15 Iowa:

DES MOINES — A 79-year-old Iowa man convicted of kidnapping and sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl has died in prison.

The Iowa Corrections Department says Robert Padgett died Tuesday of natural causes stemming from dementia. He'd been housed at the Iowa State Penitentiary Hospice Care Unit.

Padgett was a convicted sex offender who'd been released from prison in April 1978 when he kidnapped the girl in 1979 from a dance studio in Fort Madison.

Police say Padgett took the girl to a motel in Coralville, held her captive there and sexually abused her for two days. He released her in Sigourney. ..Source.. by Iowa City Press-Citizen

Family of raped incapacitated woman accuses senior living facility of negligence

2-25-15 Michigan:

The family of a 69-year-old incapacitated woman raped by a male employee at a Sterling Heights assisted living center says its operators knew of one or more other sexual assaults by the man but failed to stop them.

The woman's representative recently filed a negligence lawsuit against Harbor Chase of Sterling Heights Inc., its parent company and Mazen Zuhairi in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

The legal action came about two weeks before Zuhairi, 22, was sentenced Feb. 18 in criminal court to two to 30 years in prison by Judge James Biernat Jr.

"If someone sexually molested your mother or grandmother, you would want to kill them," Biernat told Zuhairi. "You're lucky you live here in this time."

The victim's daughter said in court the incident has devastated the family, and physically and mentally damaged her mother "forever." Several family members attended the sentencing.

Ohio prison system liable for injuries of rapist, 80, who fell out of top bunk, court rules

2-15-15 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is liable for the injuries of an 80-year-old inmate who fell out of his top bunk, a state court says.

A ruling by Ohio Court of Claims magistrate earlier this month says the state prison system knew the risks and shouldn't have assigned inmate Roy Buchanan to a top bunk.

The order does not rule on amount of monetary damages, which would be determined in a separate proceeding, the Ohio Supreme Court's news service said (See News Service of case below).

Buchanan's complaint said he lost his balance and fell out of his bunk onto the concrete floor of the dorm where he lived at the Hocking Correctional Facility in December 2012.

Can a Wife With Dementia Say Yes to Sex?

12-11-2014 Iowa:

More than 350 people attended the wedding reception of Donna Lou Young and Henry V. Rayhons in Duncan, Iowa, on Dec. 15, 2007. Family and friends ate pork roast and danced polkas to celebrate the union of a widow and a widower, both in their 70s, who had found unexpected love after the deaths of their long-time spouses.

For the next six-and-a-half years, Henry and Donna Rayhons were inseparable. She sat near him in the state House chamber while he worked as a Republican legislator. He helped with her beekeeping. She rode alongside him in a combine as he harvested corn and soybeans on his 700 acres in northern Iowa. They sang in the choir at Sunday Mass. “We just loved being together,” Henry Rayhons says.

Today, he’s awaiting trial on a felony charge that he raped Donna at a nursing home where she was living. The Iowa Attorney General’s office says Rayhons had intercourse with his wife when she lacked the mental capacity to consent because she had Alzheimer’s. She died on Aug. 8, four days short of her 79th birthday, of complications from the disease. One week later, Rayhons, 78, was arrested. He pleaded not guilty.

To convict Rayhons, prosecutors must first convince a jury that a sex act occurred in his wife’s room at the Concord Care Center in Garner, Iowa, on May 23. If prosecutors prove that, his guilt or innocence will turn on whether Donna wanted sex or not, and whether her dementia prevented her from making that judgment and communicating her wishes.

Reduce your risk of dementia right now

9-17-2014 National:

The bottom line is that it's never too late to make some changes to improve your physical and mental well-being. Here are five things you can do right now to reduce your risk of dementia:

1. Look after your heart.
2. Be physically active.
3. Follow a healthy diet.
4. Challenge your brain.
5. Enjoy social activity.

The 10 warnings signs of Alzheimer's

The strongest evidence exists in linking dementia to a lack of education in early life, hypertension in midlife and smoking and diabetes across a lifetime, according to the new report.

"There's also relatively strong evidence that people in low-education countries have a higher risk for Alzheimer's and other dementias," said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs for the Alzheimer's Association. "(This) can be controlled across the lifespan. Taking people and giving them a better education in grade school, high school, and college significantly lowers risk at the population level."

It's also important to keep our brains buzzing as we get older.

"While we don't endorse specific activity like crosswords or mazes," Fargo said, "we say, 'Find a mentally challenging activity that's fun or enjoyable for you, and you'll maintain it. That's going to be good for your brain health as you age.' "

"If we can all enter old age with better developed, healthier brains," the report concludes, "we are likely to live longer, happier and more independent lives, with a much reduced chance of developing dementia." ..To read the full article.. by Ben Tinker, CNN

Norfolk case highlights aging sex offenders debate

3-30-2014 Virginia:

Willie Jefferson Combo Jr. arrived at Norfolk Circuit Court on a cold December morning, guilty and worried.

On his mind was a pink slip buried in his mailbox for days - maybe weeks. The small piece of paper was a receipt for a registered letter from the state. His freedom depended on it.

Combo, 68, is a convicted violent sex offender. The letter represented his remaining debt to Virginia. Every month, he is required to return it to the Virginia State Police with his fingerprints and signature.

For the past 14 years, his lawyer estimated, he met that responsibility 166 of 168 times. His failure to be perfect has earned him one thing - prison.

In 1966, Combo was convicted in Chesapeake of attempted rape and assault of a woman. The 21-year-old was sentenced to life, served more than three decades and won parole in 1999. Except for twice failing to register with the state, he has no criminal record since his release.

His case highlights what some say is a shortcoming in Virginia's approach to aging offenders. Critics say state law captures Combo and others in a life of dependency, costing public money and resources to follow men who usually pose little threat to the community.

Norfolk won’t prosecute accused predator because he has dementia

9-14-2013 Massachusetts:

Norfolk prosecutors notified some two dozen alleged victims of accused sexual predator William E. Sheehan this week that the former Foxborough teacher and Boy Scout leader will not be prosecuted because his advanced dementia makes him unable to stand trial.

The decision, after a psychological examination commissioned by prosecutors, brings an end to the state’s criminal investigation of a set of allegations that date back four decades.

Sheehan, 74, is now in a Florida nursing home. Under the law, defendants must be able to meaningfully participate in their own cases.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey called Sheehan’s alleged crimes “predatory and disturbing” and their scope “shocking.” In a statement Friday, he praised the alleged victims who came forward to report their stories.

“We are grateful for their courage,’’ Morrissey said. “Speaking out today, even decades later, will hopefully make it safer for other victims to step forward and maybe even help prevent such a terrible thing from happening to other children.”

After receiving the pyschological report, prosecutors in Morrissey’s office spent the week delivering the disappointing news in personal phone calls to the men, who have been waiting a year for a decision.

“I feel badly victims have no sense of justice,’’ said Foxborough Police Chief Ed O’Leary, adding that there are no more current leads to follow.