The company operating a Minneapolis nursing home pleaded guilty on Monday to two charges of criminal neglect for housing sex offenders accused of sexually assaulting other residents.
Benchmark Healthcare admitted to two counts of gross misdemeanors and accepted a fine of $3,000, according to published reports. Monday’s plea bargain was the first time the operators of Concordia Care Center admitted wrongdoing, said Assistant City Attorney Lisa Godon. The company had been charged with 11 counts of neglecting vulnerable adults.
The state of Minnesota took over the nursing home and moved out residents. Benchmark is owned by North Carolina-based Foundation for the Elderly and no longer operates in Minnesota.
State attorney general Mike Hatch sued Concordia’s owner in June, alleging that sex offenders living in the facility assaulted at least two residents. Concordia settled that lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing, and no residents were charged.
Each of the five male sex offenders living at the home were under the technical authority of the state prison system but were considered too physically or mentally incapacitated to reside in jail, according to the lawsuit and state reports.
