Minn. officials find sexual abuse at nursing home

State investigators say a nursing assistant at a St. Louis Park nursing home sexually abused a resident who has dementia.

The report Thursday says Texas Terrace Care Center has suspended the employee and police have referred the case for possible criminal sexual conduct charges.

Home administrator Mat Bedard says the employee has been fired. The state Health Department says the resident reported that the nursing assistant kissed her on the mouth and touched her sexually in July. Two other residents said the employee had kissed them, with one saying he touched her stomach.

The report says the employee denied the allegations. He was not named.

Bedard said the investigators determined the employee, not the home, was responsible for the abuse and the home's administrators addressed the incident immediately when it was reported.

Four earlier cases of nursing home abuse have been uncovered in Minnesota since August 2008.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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