Man Sentenced to 5 Years for Nursing Home Abuse

A 39-year-old former nurse assistant who was accused of striking a brain-injured resident of a nursing home was sentenced to five years in prison for nursing home abuse.

Dennis A. Rowe was convicted of second degree elder abuse after a single-day trial in June. According to court documents, the suspect was accused of assaulting Benny Crowley, a disabled resident in his mid-30s, in the groin and forcing water down his nose and into his lungs through oxygen tubing, the Joplin Globe reports.

The allegation against Rowe was supplemented by testimony from Michael L. Wells Jr. who told the court he witnessed the abuse that the defendant reportedly subjected Crowley to on April 14, 2007. Wells said he had asked Rowe how to handle Crowley, who was described by the staff at Carthage nursing home as problematic at times, according to trial testimony.

Wells told the jurors that Rowe responded to his question by walking up to Crowley, who was in a wheelchair, and hitting him in the testicles. After Crowley reportedly cried out, Rowe asked the resident, "Who did this to you? Who did this to you, Benny?"