Alzheimer's Club

SPARTA, Wis. - A former nurse’s aide who admitted to sexually assaulting a 73-year-old Alzheimer’s patient at a Sparta nursing home in February 2005 will spend 20 years in prison.

Monroe County Circuit Judge Steven Abbott sentenced James Doeslaere, formerly of Bangor, Wis., Tuesday morning to 20 years in a Wisconsin prison and 15 years on extended supervision.

Doeslaere, now 48 and of Camp Douglas, Wis., pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to second-degree sexual assault by a treatment facility employee and intentional abuse of a patient causing bodily harm, both felonies.

Abbott also gave Doeslaere a concurrent sentence of three years in prison and three on extended supervision on the second charge. The charges carried a maximum 46-year sentence.

Doeslaere was a nurse’s aide at Rolling Hills Nursing Home when a co-worker witnessed him straddling an elderly woman in her bed, with her underwear around her ankles, about 2 a.m. Feb 25 in a lockdown ward, according to the criminal complaint.

Doeslaere previously entered a not guilty plea by reason of mental disease. One charge of second-degree sexual assault was dismissed.

Doeslaere originally denied the assault but later admitted it to Monroe County authorities, according to the complaint, telling them he “felt horrible about what he did and he knew that what he did was wrong.”

Though she was teary-eyed and present in court Tuesday, it’s difficult to know whether the woman understood the sentence because her Alzheimer’s disease is in a late stage, Monroe County District Attorney Dan Cary said.

“That’s what makes matters even worse,” Cary said. “It’s a sad case when you put a loved one in trusted care and the trust is violated to this extent.”

Doeslaere was apologetic Tuesday to the victim and the court, Cary said, but showed no emotion when sentenced.

The woman’s husband, 72, said he hoped Doeslaere would receive at least 20 years. “It’s a good feeling when the justice system works in the right way,” he said.

He said his wife still is a patient at Rolling Hills and he visits her three times a day.

He filed a civil lawsuit Oct. 5 in Monroe County Circuit Court against Rolling Hills, administrator Gene Schwarze, Monroe County, Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation and Doeslaere.

His attorney, Thomas Fitzpatrick, said the nursing home administration should have known Doeslaere was a “dangerous person” because of “prior complaints about him.” A motion hearing for the case is set for 10 a.m. June 28.

Schwarze was not available for comment Tuesday.

Doeslaere will be sent to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wis., for processing and assignment to a state prison, Cary said.

He has been free on a $20,000 cash bond since March 2005.

Source: Anne Jungen. Man gets 20-year sentence for sexual assault of Alzheimer's patient. La Crosse Tribune (5 April 2006) [FullText]