Catholic Care Center staff compromises possible sex crime investigation, police say

The staff at the Catholic Care Center in Bel Aire compromised a police investigation for a possible sexual battery when they disturbed evidence and delayed telling police about the alleged crime for four hours, police say.

Ascension Health, the parent company of the nursing home, disputes that the incident was mishandled.

On April 24, a nurse told police she walked into the room of a frail and unconscious 76-year-old female patient and saw a maintenance man doing something “untoward” to the patient, said Bel Aire Police Chief Darrell Atteberry.

The patient was 76 years old and weighed only 103 pounds, according to the police report. She was unconscious during the situation, Atteberry said.

The nurse immediately reported what she saw to center officials.

But center officials then compromised any possible police investigation, Atteberry said.

They called in a staff doctor to examine the patient, “and had several other people in and out of the room. Evidence was disturbed. They waited four hours before calling us. By that time, our case is so jeopardized that we may not even get charges filed, so if something did happen, we can’t prove it.”

“They could have handled this a lot better.”

Because the investigation was compromised, police won’t be able to file charges against the suspect, Atteberry said.

Kansas law requires medical professionals and operators of residential care facilities to immediately report suspected elder abuse to authorities, including law enforcement and the state.

The incident occurred on Sunday, April 24, and the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services was notified on Monday morning, according to spokesperson Angela De Rocha. The agency investigated and determined that Catholic Care Center followed the appropriate protocol in reporting the incident to the state, she said.

Catholic Care Center is part of Ascension Health, the largest Catholic health care system in the world and the largest nonprofit health care system in the U.S. Ascension also owns Via Christi Health.

Ascension disputes that the incident was mishandled.

“Immediately upon learning of the alleged incident we separated and protected all involved parties, suspended the individual in question and followed protocol by notifying state regulatory agencies, medical authorities and others,” said Chris Curran, vice president of communication at Ascension Health, in a statement. “The patient’s medical doctor was already onsite, examined her and saw nothing concerning. At the same time the individual with durable power of attorney for the patient was informed and indicated that, based on the medical doctor’s findings, the patient did not have to be transported to the hospital and examined.”

“That is the problem,” Atteberry said. “They did all that before they contacted us. At least call us and have us side by side as they are doing their part, that way we can let them know if what they are doing will jeopardize our crime investigation.”

Curran said the suspect is no longer employed at the center.

No action has been taken against the center, Atteberry said. He asked the Bel Aire detective who investigated the situation to tell center officials they compromised an investigation and should have called police immediately.

Part of the reason Atteberry made this case public is to remind people to call police immediately if they find any evidence of a possible crime. Some people don’t do this, he said, including some people who should know better.

The delay in calling police at the Catholic Care Center is distressing, he said.

“We’re trying to assure the safety and security of everyone we protect. You can’t do this, you can’t delay. You have to do something where we know immediately so we can process the crime scene.”

In these situations, he said, administrators should call police immediately, and not worry about whether the report might cast an unwanted light on the reputation of the institution.

According to Medicare, the Catholic Care Center has 176 certified beds. It has a two star rating out of five based on its health inspections, staffing and quality measures, and has been fined about $58,000 by Medicare for deficiencies since 2015.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Catholic Care Center staff compromises possible sex crime investigation, police say."