Senior center cited in sexual abuse

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

The state has sanctioned a Las Vegas center for senior citizens run by the Economic Opportunity Board after finding evidence that one of its employees sexually abused patients, officials said.

The sanctions -- issued May 17 by a bureau in the state's Health Division -- came after a March investigation of a former employee's complaints.

The abuse, first reported to the state agency in September 2001, surprised several members of the EOB at a Wednesday meeting -- prompting one to call for an investigation into the center's director and its policies.

"Why was this swept under the rug and brought to our attention for the first time only now?" asked Lawrence Weekly, one of 14 board members for the nonprofit.

The employee, Augusto Valle, was fired from the center May 1 and arrested by Metro Police Thursday afternoon in North Las Vegas on a warrant of open and gross lewdness -- a gross misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail. Valle was charged with six additional counts of open and gross lewdness, Metro Sgt. Russ Shoemaker said.

Hollyhock Adult Day Care is one of four centers for senior citizens the nonprofit runs in Clark County. Cathy Davis, the former employee who made the complaint, said the sanctions were a long time coming, as she originally complained about Valle to her supervisor in April 2001 -- and the complaint was ignored.

She said she then complained to the Health Division in September 2001, but the investigation didn't substantiate her allegations.

"If you're working around the elderly, they should be treated with respect and dignity," she said Thursday.

"EOB and the center let this go on for 11 months, and who knows what else this employee was doing that no one saw."

Mary Jo Greenlee, administrator of adult and senior services for EOB, denies Davis' claim, saying she was only made aware of the complaints in September 2001.

According to the Health Division's Bureau of Licensure and Certification, the center must now offer new training to its employees on abuse and the duty of all employees to report such incidents, as well as pay a $200 fine. It has until next week to appeal the sanctions.

Greenlee said Thursday she has written a letter of appeal and hasn't decided whether to send it.

She said she has always trained Hollyhock's employees to report abuses at the center, and shouldn't be faulted for Valle's behavior.

"I'm not sure if training or any kind or rules and regulations would deter a predator like this, so I don't see why we should be sanctioned," she said.

"At the same time, I'm also not sure if I want to drag this issue out much longer."

Lisa Jones, manager with the state bureau issuing the sanctions, said her agency cannot recommend specific policies to safeguard against future abuses, and that its role is limited to requiring staff training and monitoring the facility in the future.

"There's no guarantees -- you can only hope that staff training will help prevent future abuses and monitoring afterward will show if problems continue," Jones said.

If future incidents do occur at the center, further sanctions can be imposed -- including daily fines and, ultimately, the center's loss of its license to operate the facility.

Meanwhile, EOB member Weekly said he would like to see the board initiate its own investigation.

"I don't know if it's enough that the person who did this was fired," he said.

"I think you need to look at the top, at the director of the center, and not just what the employees did or didn't do, because it looks like this person is not doing their job."

Weekly said the board has requested information involving the case from EOB Executive Director Marcia Rose Walker.

"I want to know -- how did we get to this point, and how can we stop this from happening in the future?"