I have this weird feeling that this Nursing Home story could be a fraud...

[Bicoastal]

...because it reminds me of those sensationalist "moral panic" scandals from the 80's where the crimes were so ludicriously outrageous and horrible that they made the news instantly, but no consensus was ever reached because the only evidence of any wrongdoing came from the testimony of the "victims," which was unreliable and easily manipulated by the police, media, and justice system.

In those cases, the victims were mostly children; in this one, elderly patients suffering from senile dementia. But as far as I know, no other witnesses, video footage, or even Myspace confessions have been found...still, add in a "It could happen HERE" angle, ie, these soulless, oversexed hellspawn could be YOUR daughters, and PRESTO! You've got an national media feeding frenzy before any legal proceedings have even begun.

Do I have any proof that these girls are innocent? No. I just have an uneasy feeling. However, I'm convinced these girls should remain innocent until proven guilty, and right now, most talking heads on the TV (and most posters on this board) are convinced that they're guilty as sin.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Well, someone in the media will be sued for libel for publishing these girls' photos and names, then

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Do you have any other links other than the one article

in GD? I haven't heard this story before.

Thanks.

[Blue Diadem]

6. Did you see the Smoking Gun link in that thread? n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

16. No, I was looking at the link in LBN. Thanks.

This makes me ill. My dad was in a nursing home and the nursing staff was wonderful to him and all the other residents. I hope those little pigs rot in jail for a very, very long time.

They are disgusting.

[Blue Diadem]

24. My Mom was in one too.

It pisses me off that those teenagers were victimizing helpless people. I read in one article(can't remember where) that most likely they'll receive suspended sentences with probation.

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. The juveniles names have been released?

If you're talking about the adults whose photos I've seen on the smoking gun... then what do you base this on?

Reid Seligman and the other Duke defendants should have a really good case on that basis.

[MineralMan]

30. Actually, the names of two of the juveniles were released

By the Albert Lea paper, which stated that both were 18 at the time of publication. The two 19 year olds' names were released everywhere.

That story, however, is now in the paper's archives, so it takes a bit of work to get to it.

I don't know if any of the other 300+ stories you can find on Google News also has their names. I won't reveal them, although they're in my notes.

A search for teen nursing home on Google News will pull all the stories up as the first hit.

[Lerkfish]

3. as a cube rat, I have no idea what you're talking about.

do you have a link or something?

[crone]

4. I hope you are right...

however, I have worked in Nursing Homes and worked as part of the nursing staff in Psychiatric hospitals and have witnessed abuse ( and reported it) so ....I would not be surprised. There is something fishy about the story though... at least the way it is being reported.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. The Duke Lacrosse case shows that until proven guilty, it is sensible to temper judgement.

That said, weird feelings aren't very useful.

[Bicoastal]

7. Sure, but it should be noted how little actual proof of abuse has surfaced...

...while the girls' names, pictures, and Myspace pages have been released to the public at large. That's pretty insidious.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. You say "girls". The only names I've seen are those of adults. n/t

[uppityperson]

28. 17, 18, 19 yrs old are not "girls" and should not be dismissed as such.

Calling them "girls" demeans them and minimizes what they are accused of doing.

After reading the reports in SmokingGun, some of the accusations I can see doing away with, but some not. They need to be investigated and consequences given.

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. The statements made by the defendants constitute a much stronger case. n/t

[gogoplata]

8. The police report is on Smoking Gun.

Along with notes taken during questioning.

[Bicoastal]

10. Link, please?

[Lerkfish]

14. apparently, no one will provide a link.

oh well, I guess its not all that important.

[mymessageboardid]

18. Link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4586339

[Lerkfish]

21. thank you.

[gogoplata]

20. type 'smoking gun' in your browser

do you need someone to come over and help?

[Lerkfish]

23. thanks for your help.

the smoking gun home page does not have a clear link on it to this story.

[walldude]

9. Geeze I hope not. I mean, I lived in the neighborhood

where the one of the "events" of the 80's took place. The McMartin day care scandal where these people were falsely accused of molesting children. People were ready to lynch these folks and it turned out they were innocent. But the worst thing about it was no one ever retracted the stories. I learned that it was all bullshit years later when HBO did a special on it. These peoples lives were utterly destroyed. It was horrible.

[mymessageboardid]

12. Yea

But the McMartin's didn't confess. Why don't you read the indictment before defending these slimeballs.

[walldude]

22. The McMartins son did confess under interrogation

Why don't you go try to annoy someone who gives a shit.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beausoleil]

13. If it's a fraud, why would one of the perpetrators admit to it?

According to the criminal complaint, Ashton Larson admitted to police that she inserted her finger into a resident's rectum. She said she was trying to trigger a bowel movement but acknowledged that this was not part of her training.

She also admitted getting into bed with a resident and making a humping motion. "I might have done the motion , but she was no where near me," the complaint quotes Larson as telling police.

She also admitted to patting the buttocks of one resident and trying to get another mad and then laughing at her.


http://www.startribune.com/local/35539384.html



Supposedly videos were made, also.

[Lerkfish]

19. THANK YOU for finally posting a link.

now that I've read the link, I really can't tell very much at all yet.

[tandot]

17. If you read the complaint on the www.thesmokinggun.com website

You can see that they admitted to some of the things and that some of the other teens involved have testified to what happened.

Pretty disgusting sh*t.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1202081minn1.html

They should remain innocent until proven guilty, of course.

[MineralMan]

25. There's plenty of information on this case, but

you really need to Google the case in Google News to find all of it. A single thread here won't pull all the available information out.

It's a pretty dismal situation. Try this:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&resnum=0&q=teens%20nursing%20home&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

[Midlodemocrat]

26. And, of course, contrary to people who believe that the world revolves around DU

our expressing disgust and wishing that these girls get the maximum penalty has no bearing on the outcome of the case.

[MineralMan]

29. Yup. None of us will sit on the jury in their case...

if there even is a jury trial. It's far more likely that the District Attorney in that county in Minnesota will plead the case out. Both of the girls have already admitted to what they have done, so a plea deal is almost a given.

As I said in the other thread, they will most likely get probation on these gross misdemeanor charges, 11 counts in one of the cases. Personally, I don't think that's adequate, but I'm not in charge of that.

Since I've blogged the case, the day the charges were announced, I'll follow it up and blog the conclusion of it.

I actually thought about posting it here when it broke, but decided that it would lead to what it has led to, so I decided against doing it at the time. Someone else posted it, once it became national (and even international) news.

[MineralMan]

27. The actual criminal complaints at these links:

http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/2albertlea.pdf?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUU

http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/1albertlea.pdf?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUU

Be warned: the events detailed in these two complaints are shocking and graphic.