Nursing homes, other institutions escape notification of sex offenders

After recent incidents where sex offenders allegedly preyed on wulnerable women in nursing homes, gaps in Florida's (and other states') sex offender notification law have been found. Ivey Edwards, 82, whose criminal history dates back to 1945, raped a comatose 77 year old nursing home resident back in 2002. Thomas Ango Oliver, a sex predator convicted of raping a 10 year old girl in 2004, is accused of groping a female patient at his nursing home New Year's Eve.

More from the Bradenton Herald's Loophole in sexual predator law:

These incidents and others underscore what experts and notification advocates say is a long-standing gap in state laws nationwide: Laws requiring public notification of sexual offenders and predators have long focused on protecting children - but not vulnerable adults such as those in nursing homes, hospitals and mental health facilities. As a result, an untold number of people are placed in greater jeopardy of being sexually assaulted.

"There's not only people out there who abuse children, but people who specifically prey on adults," said Judy Cornett, executive director of Safety Zone Advocacy, a national non-profit organization that provides education on safety, prevention and intervention on sex crimes against children.

"Any business, hospital or nursing home - I think it should be required to do a background check on those who come in," she said. "Hospitals could be a little tough. But nursing homes, I think it should be mandatory. There should be a law passed."

One anti-sex predator group, A Perfect Cause, has compiled a report on offenders in nursing homes.

In a pair of reports published in 2004 and 2005, A Perfect Cause said it found 800 registered sexual offenders in long-term care facilities in 36 states. Of those, 58 were in Florida - including two in Bradenton facilities who have since died.

Those offenders committed more than 100 crimes, including murder, rape and assault, against fellow residents, the group said. Its findings led several states - California, Illinois, Oklahoma and Virginia among them - to begin requiring nursing homes to check prospective residents' criminal backgrounds and/or notify residents or their guardians if convicted sex offenders live on the premises.

The Herald's report is four pages long. It shows how we have focused all our efforts on children, but failed to focus the same efforts we place on protecting kids against sexual predators as we do protecting vulnerable adults, like those in hospitals, treatment programs, and nursing homes.