Ohio Registered Nurse Hit With Sexual Abuse Charges - UPDATE
We discussed John Riems and pending sexual abuse charges in our previous blog. John Riems, a night shift supervisor and nurse at Concord Care and Rehabilitation Center in Toledo, Ohio, confessed to sexually violating more than 100 nursing home patients during his career. He could name twenty-three of his helpless victims. He was indicted on 15 counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery, three counts of patient abuse, one count of gross sexual imposition, and two counts of sexual penetration. He faced the possibility of 174 years in prison.
Initially, Riems alleged that he digitally penetrated his vitcims' rectums to assist them in removing fecal matter, but prosecutors and investigators said he did it for sexual gratification.
Trial was set to begin on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. Riems and his family were split on whether or not to go to trial. At the last minute, Riems opted not to put his family through a trial and took a plea deal using what is called an Alford plea on Friday January 16, 2009. An Alford plea allows Riems to maintain his innocence but recognizes that the State had ample evidence of guilt. By accepting an Alford plea, Riems will forgo trial at the risk of a more stringent sentence. Riems has been sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison.
