Charges: Caretaker Assaulted Vulnerable Adult At Hopkins Senior Care Facility
HOPKINS, Minn. (WCCO) -- A hidden camera confirmed what a Twin Cities woman feared was happening to her mother at a home for seniors: She was being abused by her care giver.
Police say it happened at The Glenn Hopkins senior home, formerly called St. Therese Southwest.
Cecelia Soi, 55, is now charged with two counts of assault after several incidents were caught on camera.
WCCO's Angela Davis talked with Hopkins police about what the video shows. An investigator said the daughter of the victim noticed bruises on her mother, who lives in a memory care unit.
When no one could explain how she got them, she set up a hidden camera in her mom's room. What was captured in that video quickly led to the arrest of a nursing assistant.
It was Cecelia Soi's job to take care of the senior residents at The Glenn Hopkins. But Hopkins police say videos from a hidden camera show abuse.
Sgt. Mike Glassberg has seen the video.
"It revealed an assault on the victim. Obviously there was some striking and some hair pulling," Sgt. Glassberg said.
"We see a lot of stuff in our job and when you see people who are defenseless, it's hard to watch that. It was kinda sad," he said.
Court papers describe three separate attacks caught on camera. In one of them, Soi pulled the woman up from the floor, by her hair. Another shows Soi striking the victim with her hand and a hair brush.
The third allegedly shows Soi hitting the woman in the head several times and then elbowing her.
"Video is so important in our job as evidence. I think it is going to be good evidence to show to a jury or to a judge to show what happened. There is really no disputing what the video shows," he said.
The administrator of The Glenn Hopkins, Lori McGuire, sent a letter to all residents and their families, stating she had fired Soi and interviewed and examined all the residents in the memory care area.
She also stated they've "Begun an internal review of our hiring, training and supervisory practices to look for opportunities to improve our processes in these areas."
"People need to be aware, you never know who is watching. And it's unfortunate that you have to worry about a camera watching, but you should always have the highest integrity and do the right thing and take care of your patients," Sgt. Glassberg said.
A spokesperson for the home, Jon Austin, told WCCO there is no evidence that anyone else has been hurt.
Soi has denied hitting the victim or pulling her hair. She has been charged with two counts of assault and is scheduled to be in court on March 14.
If convicted, Soi faces nearly two years in jail and a $4,000 fine.