Firing after sex offender abused 91-year-old woman

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ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The administrator of the Loudonville Home for Adults in Albany, N.Y., was fired after a convicted rapist was found sexually abusing a 91-year-old woman.

Melissa Brown was let go Saturday after the recent arrest of 64-year-old Richard Ragone, a Level 3 sex offender who was seen by a witness inappropriately touching the woman in her room. Her LinkedIn account said she was employed at the home since March 2005.

Paul Larrabee of Corning Place Communications, a spokesman for the facility, indicated the incident was not the only trouble to surface at the home, the Albany Times Union reported.

Larrabee declined to elaborate on the other incidents.

"The administrator was discharged from her position on Saturday for failing to exercise appropriate judgment stemming from incidents involving the safety and welfare of our residents," Larrabee told the Times Union.

Ragone was convicted in 1984 in the rape and sodomy of a 43-year-old woman and was released from prison in 2000. He started working as a maintenance worker at the Loudonville Home for Adults in 2008, the year he came off parole.

Ragone was arrested Dec. 20 and was being held in the Albany County Jail for allegedly endangering the welfare of a vulnerable or elderly person, a felony, and misdemeanor sexual abuse, police said.

The Loudonville Home for Adults is not considered a nursing home but an adult care facility. The New York state Health Department said it is not against the law for the home to hire a sex offender, but nursing homes and home care services are required by state law to do criminal background checks.

New York state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, and state Sen. Kathy Marchione, R-Halfmoon, said they were drafting legislation requiring senior care facilities perform sex offender registry checks for all employees.