Registered sex offenders found living in Virginia nursing homes

Are residents of Virginia’s long-term care facilities safe from sexual predators?  Some advocates for the elderly are concerned that the government does not do enough to inform nursing home and assisted living residents that they could be living next door to a registered sex offender.

Channel 13 News investigators did a little research in the Norfolk area and found several registered offenders in the state sex offender registry who were living in area facilities:

• A sex offender convicted of attempted rape is at the Ruxton Nursing Center in Williamsburg
• A man classified as a violent sex offender convicted of abduction and aggravated sexual battery in November of 2000 was recently moved from the Riverside Convalescent Center in Hampton to Consulate Healthcare in Norfolk
• A 78-year old man also considered a violent offender convicted of aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties with a child 13-years ago in the same facility
• A registered sex offender is listed at the Sentara Nursing Center in Virginia Beach
• A recently deceased 87-year old violent sex offender convicted of rape and indecent liberties with a children in 1996 spent several years at the Bay Pointe Medical and Rehab Center in Virginia Beach

A new Virginia law requires long term care facilities to register to receive information about sex offenders who are living in or near their facility.  They must also help their residents access the registry if they ask about it.  Unfortunately, this law puts the onus on the resident to ask about the possibility of a sex offender living in the facility.  Critics would prefer to see the law require that facilities proactively notify their residents if a sex offender is living with them.

You can read more about this issue in our library article, “Is a Registered Sex Offender Living in Your Virginia Nursing Home?”