Texas City Nursing Home Sued Over Rape Charges

TEXAS CITY -- A Texas City nursing home kicked out a mentally disabled woman after she made a rape accusation against an employee who was later charged with sexual assault, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which seeks $2 million, accuses HRA Village of locking the 28-year-old woman out of the assisted living facility after a rape kit administered at the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston tested positive for semen.

"They absolutely knew that this woman had been abused," said Galveston attorney Tony Buzzbee, who is representing the woman's mother, referred to in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1.

Henry Lewis Jones, 54, was indicted March 22 on a sexual assault charge for anal penetration of the daughter, known in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 2, according to Assistant Galveston County District Attorney Bill Reed.

Employees at HRA Village "created an atmosphere of oppression where residents were frequently yelled at, intimidated and 'punished' by being confined to their rooms and having their phones taken away, among other forms of punishment," the lawsuit said.

HRA Village Executive Director Judy Slocumb-Farrell said she had not seen the lawsuit and was therefore unable to comment. She said Jones was fired.

The lawsuit says that Jones targeted Jane Doe 2 after she reported that he had fondled the breasts of other residents and watched them take showers.

Jones assaulted Doe 2 several times between March and July 2006, allegedly touching her and forcing her to have sex, according to the lawsuit.

Doe 2 complained to her mother July 4 after being forcibly sodomized, the lawsuit says. The mother complained to an HRA Village employee and soon after the HRA manager confronted Doe 2 and accused her of lying and repeating accusations against Jones made by other residents, the lawsuit says.

HRA Village employees took Doe 2 to UTMB for an examination only after the mother insisted, the lawsuit says.

After the rape kit tested positive, HRA Village refused to allow Doe 2 to return, but continued to bill her mother for the room for several months, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says that HRA Village failed to report the allegation of abuse to the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services as required by law.

The Aging Department's web site shows that HRA Village was cited Sept.

9 for failing to report abuse incidents and for failing to prevent seclusion and restraint from being used as punishment, for behavior modification or for staff convenience.

harvey.rice@chron.com