Assisted Living Center Cited For Not Proving Caregivers Pass Background Checks

Autumn Leaves, an assisted living center where police say an 80-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by a caregiver, was cited by the state in 2013 for failing to get background information on independent caregivers.

3/25/2014 Related Story: Man Arrested In Sexual Assault Of Tulsa Memory Care Resident

According to a state inspection report, the Oklahoma Health Department cited Autumn Leaves for several violations last year including the failure to complete background checks on caregivers hired by families to work with patients at the center. A spokesperson for the health department says those caregivers were also allowed to work in the center without proper licensing and/or certifications. Autumn Leaves' spokesperson says that issue has been resolved.

Autumn Leaves was also cited in 2013 for failing to prove that 17 of its employees had passed background checks by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. A spokesperson for the center says it did do background checks on all of those employees and they all passed. The spokesperson says the issue was that the center initially failed to prove the checks were done by the OSBI, as required by statute. 

A spokesperson for the health department says Autumn Leaves is now up to date with all of its OSBI background checks.

The suspect in the current case, Stephen Reed, was fired last year from the Claremore Veterans Center. Records show he admitted to neglecting several patients in his care.

Reed was disciplined by the state nursing board and fined $1,500.

It's not clear, as of now, if that information would have turned up in a background check, but as a licensed practical nurse, the health department said Reed didn't have to pass a background check because he's licensed by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing.