Oneida Nursing Home Aide Convicted In Rape Of 92-year-old Patient

Attorney General Spitzer today announced that a certified nurse's assistant formerly employed at the Oneida City Hospital Extended Care Facility in Oneida, New York, has been convicted of repeatedly raping an elderly female resident at the facility during a two-month period in 1997.

Following a three-day jury trial in Madison County Court, Arthur C. Wallace was found guilty as charged of five counts of Rape in the First Degree.

Judge Hugh C. Humphrey, who presided at trial, set sentencing for July 13. Wallace faces consecutive sentences of 12? to 25 years in prison. Judge Humphrey also ordered Wallace's bail revoked. Wallace has been held in the Madison County Jail on $100,000 bail following his arrest this past February.

"One can hardly imagine a crime more horrible that sexually violating an elderly person," said Attorney General Spitzer said, "I hope this prosecution and conviction sends a strong message to nursing homes throughout the State to carefully scrutinize the employees they entrust with the care of our most vulnerable citizens."

Spitzer has proposed legislation to require criminal background checks for all individuals seeking employment as home health or nurse's aides in the long-term health-care industry.

According to the charges filed in the case, Wallace, while employed at the facility, forcibly raped a 92-year-old patient on five separate occasions between September and October 1997.

Wallace, 42, resided at Handsome Brook Trailer Park, on Shawler Brook Road in Sherburne, New York. He was employed as a certified nurse's assistant at Oneida, a 160-bed health care facility located at 323 Genesee Street in Oneida, from November 11, 1996, to September 14, 1998, when he was terminated for sexually harassing fellow employees.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Ralph D. Tortora, III, Director of the Syracuse Regional Office of Attorney General Spitzer's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. All cases are handled under the direct supervision of Deputy Attorney General Jos? Maldonado.