TEMPLE, Texas — The daughter of a resident at Wellington Place in Temple accused a nurse assistant of sexually assaulting her mother multiple times. She did not want to show her face on camera, however, she did speak to KCEN Channel 6 on the record.
"We trusted him," she said. "My mom trusted him. she thought he was a good guy."
The Temple woman's mother had lived at the nursing home for a year and a half. On April 11, 2019, she said the trust was shattered.
"My mom told my sister there was a male nurse there that had sex with her," she said.
The daughter making the accusations against Wellington Place recorded a conversation she had with her mother about the sexual encounter. Her mother said it happened, but she didn't call it an assault.
"If he's in jail, it's all together wrong because I asked him to do it," the nursing home patient said.
Her daughter then asked this: You asked him to have sex?
"Yeah," her mother replied.
"And what did he say?" the daughter asked.
"He said 'No, we'll get in trouble,'" her mother said.
The daughter said she immediately confronted the nursing home's administrator, Martin Harris.
"They had suspended the man, the [Certified Nursing Assistants], and they had him suspended until the investigation is complete," she said.
What she didn't know was Harris meant the facility's investigation, not Temple Police Department's, which is still active. She said five days later, he was back on the job.
When KCEN Channel 6 asked Harris specifically if the claim was true or not, Harris sent Channel 6 the following statement:
"The facility performed a complete investigation into the allegation, and no evidence was found in support of the claim as reported."
The daughter told us she knew a medical exam found evidence a man had sex with her mother at Wellington Place.
She said she thinks the facility administrator chose to ignore it.
"They did find evidence," she said. "Bruising and tearing, and some sperm specimens."
When KCEN Channel 6 investigative reporter Andrew Moore asked if she specifically told Harris about the DNA evidence, she said she showed him.
"Yes, he said he didn't have that proof and he needed to see it," she said.
Moore asked if Harris had requested the evidence, and she said he did not.
"We can confirm that the subject allegation was timely reported to and investigated by Texas Health and Human Services," Harris wrote in another email. "The complaint was unsubstantiated."
As of Thursday, April 25, 2019, Harris' statement wasn't true. According to state spokesperson Kelli Weldon, the HHSC case was not completed yet.
The nursing assistant could get in trouble because it appears having sex with a patient is against facility policy. The daughter said she hopes she can keep it from happening again.
"If the man was doing it to someone else, they may not be able to tell what happened," she said. "So, I want to be a voice for those people as well."
This isn't the first time Wellington Place caught the eye of state investigators.
KCEN Channel 6 learned Thursday that in 2016, the nursing home failed to check the background references on 10 out of its 18 employees, federal documents said. In 2017, a resident broke their leg after being improperly transferred, documents showed.
Harris released this statement for Wellington Place when Channel 6 first reached out for a response about the alleged sexual assault:
"Thank you for your inquiry. With respect to the specific circumstances surrounding the individual resident referenced in your email, we are not at liberty to provide protected health information regarding the situation as per our obligations under Federal and State privacy laws. However, I can certainly confirm that Wellington Place has policies and protocols in place to ensure that residents are protected from any form of abuse while in our care. Wellington is committed to the health, safety and well-being of each resident we have the privilege to serve; we screen our staff before hire and train our staff upon and after hire relative to abuse prevention, identification, reporting and response. We are confident that the systems we have in place are fully compliant with our obligations as a provider of skilled nursing and rehabilitation services in the community, and with preventing abuse in any form.
In addition, we can confirm that the subject allegation was timely reported to and investigated by Texas Health and Human Services, and the complaint was unsubstantiated.
Finally, and as a general matter, we are very proud of the care that is delivered at Wellington Place – I am grateful to the employees who work tirelessly in providing that care, and to our residents and families for giving us the opportunity to be of service."
The HHSC said if you have a complaint about abuse or neglect at a long-term care facility, call its hotline at 1-800-458-9858.
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