According to the Pinellas County Sheriffs office, a 57-year-old mentally ill man was arrested Friday on charges that he fondled an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s in the Pasadena nursing home they share. Larry Donneal Evans, of St. Petersburg, was arrested on a felony charge of battery on a person 65 years or older. He is being held in the Pinellas County jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. Evans is a convicted felon who served four years in prison for charges of resisting an officer with violence and possession of cocaine. He was released in 2004. The reason why Evans was a resident at the nursing home has not been disclosed.
According to deputies, the incident took place around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. A nurse at the nursing home on Pasadena Avenue caught Evans inside the victim's room. The nurse saw Evans inappropriately touching the victim over the outside of her hospital gown. Evans was removed from the victim's room, and the staff then reported the incident to the Sheriff's Office.
According to the arrest report, Evans said he did it because she didn't say to stop. But the victim was not coherent enough to even talk to deputies due to her advanced Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia.
Younger mentally ill people now make up almost ten percent of the nation's nearly 1.4 million nursing home residents. That is an increase from 6 percent in 2002. The reasons for the increase are multiple. The most obvious cause is the closing state mental institutions as well as a shortage of hospital psychiatric beds. Nursing homes have become dumping grounds for young and middle-age people with mental illness. Younger, stronger mentally ill residents are frequently living beside frail senior citizens.
"Sadly, we're seeing the tragic results of the failure of federal and state governments to provide appropriate treatment and housing for those with mental illnesses and to provide a safe environment for the frail elderly," said Janet Wells, director of public policy for the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.
On May 30th, 2008 a 77 year old man in Chicago was smashed in the face with a clock radio while he slept in his bed. The victim, Ivory Jackson suffered from Alzheimer’s. He languished in a hospital and died a month later. Jackson's roommate — a mentally ill man nearly 30 years younger — was arrested and charged with the killing. Police found him sitting next to the nurse's station, with blood on his hands and clothes. The room they shared was covered in blood…even the ceiling. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, and after a psychiatric review was ruled unfit to stand trial. He now lives in a state mental hospital. The for-profit nursing home was later fined $32,500 for failing to prevent the assault.
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