A former aide at a New York nursing home has been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a 90-year-old resident of the nursing home. A jury convicted William Morrison, 46, of Utica, of three felonies after a five-day trial conducted before Judge Michael L. Dwyer in Oneida County Court. Morrison was found guilty of Rape in the First Degree, a class B felony, Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a class D felony, and Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Elderly Person, a class E felony.
Morrison had been employed by Rome Memorial Hospital, in Rome, New York, for several months before he transferred to hospital's affiliated 80-bed nursing home. The crime was committed approximately two weeks after that transfer.
When Morrison began to work at the nursing home, the home sought to perform a criminal background check, but that process had not been completed before Morrison raped the elderly resident, prosecutors said. Such a background check would have revealed that Morrison had previously been convicted of one felony drug offense in 1992 and several misdemeanors in the 1990s. His last conviction was for a misdemeanor drug offense in 1999.
"This horrific crime illustrates how important it is for nursing homes to secure criminal history checks before allowing individuals to care for their residents," said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "Had the nursing home known of Morrison's criminal history, it is possible that this nightmarish crime might have been avoided. We are continuing to examine whether my office should take any action against the home."
