HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A nurse aide who was found by a state board to have sexually abused three nursing home residents at two different facilities never faced criminal charges. While prosecutors cited evidentiary issues, a family member of one of the alleged victims expressed disappointment in what she felt was a lack of justice in the case.
As CBS 6 recently reported, Henrico Health and Rehabilitation Center has been added to a federal program reserved for the country's worst-performing nursing homes called Special Focus Facilities. That means the facility is subject to increased oversight, escalating penalties, and potential termination from Medicare and Medicaid due to having a history of serious quality issues.
As part of the selection process for the program, the Virginia Department of Health evaluated the facility's performance on inspections in recent years. During one inspection from 2023, the state cited the nursing home for failing to protect two residents from sexual abuse.
CBS 6 has now obtained a case file from the Virginia Board of Nursing that sheds more light on those allegations.
According to the filing, in August 2023, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) named Lamar Young abused an 86-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease while she was living at Henrico Health and Rehab. The report stated he shaved her pubic hair "without any medical need or orders to do so."
Two days later, the board found Young abused a 57-year-old male patient with brain dysfunction and muscle weakness.
Watch: Nursing home named among worst in country
Investigators said while bathing the resident, Young placed a washcloth over the resident's face and "moved [his] penis from side to side and back and forth until it was hurting."
They said he then attempted to shave the man's pubic hair.
The resident began to yell, and that's when another employee entered the room. The resident reported the incident to the other employee, and Young denied the allegations, according to the board.
Several hours later, Young was then reportedly observed "shoving eggs" down the same man's mouth "until he almost choked."
Management at the facility instructed Young, who was working on behalf of a staffing agency, to leave and not return.
Health inspectors who interviewed the male resident reported he was "very tearful" recalling the events and stated the incidents caused him to be scared, afraid to sleep, and like he wanted to leave the facility.
While the state health department and Board of Nursing substantiated findings of abuse, Young never faced criminal charges.
Henrico police confirmed it was called to investigate, but the Office of Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor declined to prosecute.
Taylor told CBS 6 that "there was not enough evidence to go forward on a probable cause charge for criminal actions."
"I'm wondering why health agencies would be able to substantiate and conclude that abuse happened in these situations using the same evidence that I assume is being given to police, however, your office would decline charges," reporter Tyler Layne asked Taylor.
"When we're talking about individuals who are in these facilities, there can be a range of certain physical impairments, potentially some cognitive impairments that when you are asking someone who has given a recollection to one individual, and then you come back a second time, and the recollection may not be the exact same," Taylor said. "It just happened to be with this particular set of circumstances with these two individuals, one who had difficulty actually articulating verbally what had happened, the other individual having certain physical impairment to be able to clearly see what was going on."
Though the board found the evidence, which included testimony from nursing home staff and the male resident, credible and consistent with the allegations, Taylor said the board can consider much more expansive evidence than prosecutors can. She said their burden of proof standard is much lower than hers, which is beyond a reasonable doubt.
"It's important to know that a finding for an administrative process because of what they saw, and we're talking about someone not abiding by the standard of care, would not necessarily mean that we know that the actions are so severe that they would meet the criminal standard," Taylor said. "The fact that there was a referral to law enforcement, the fact that there were no charges, as we have seen in other situations, that does not mean that we don't believe that criminal activity occurred, but whether or not we are able to substantiate and find probable cause, and better yet find reasonable doubt evidence, is what we are tasked with doing."
CBS 6 spoke with the daughter of the female resident who the board found was abused.
She did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation but said she was frustrated charges were never pursued and felt "the ball was dropped."
She recalled being in communication with law enforcement and providing medical records but said there was never a follow up to discuss the outcome of the investigation.
Less than five months after Henrico declined to prosecute, health officials found that Young sexually abused another nursing home resident, this time while he was working at Southampton Rehab and Healthcare in Richmond.
According to case filings, in January 2024, Young performed nonconsensual oral sex on a 34-year-old quadriplegic resident as he was semi-conscious from pain medication.
The resident said he woke up to the incident occurring and then Young reportedly proceeded to offer a bribe of "weed and money."
State inspectors said Southampton terminated Young upon learning of the allegations and immediately notified police and state regulators.
"Do you feel that if police and your office would have taken action back in August 2023, you could have prevented that next abuse from happening?" Layne asked Taylor.
"Understand that's a four-month difference," Taylor said. "There's no way that a criminal conviction necessarily would have happened in that short period of time."
Richmond police investigated the Southampton incident, but the office of Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin also declined prosecution.
McEachin said there were "issues with witness statements" including when the victim was interviewed by law enforcement for a second time in April 2024.
However, the accuser told health inspectors in February 2024 that he felt "violated."
The Board of Nursing heard testimony from another staff member who corroborated the resident's account and said it "traumatized" him.
Ultimately, the board revoked Young's license in May 2024 following a formal administrative hearing and entered findings of abuse into the public record.
According to the board's case file, Young did not show up to the hearing and was not represented by legal counsel. CBS 6's attempts to reach Young for comment were unsuccessful.
While Taylor believes the administrative process was the correct course of action in the Henrico cases, she said the flow of information from one agency to the next, including to prosecutors, needs improvement.
"It does make one think, wow, is there a different way we could do this and allow you know agencies to talk," Taylor said.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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