Mean Girls Allegedly Spit At, Poked Patients

Dec. 3, 2008 — -- Eight teenagers are facing charges after allegedly torturing residents suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia at a Minnesota nursing home.

Brianna Broitzman, 19, and Ashton Larson, 18, reportedly spit at, poked and rubbed the genitals of at least seven residents at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn., according to a criminal complaint filed Monday and obtained by ABCNews.com.

Six others are also named in the complaint but are identified only by their initials because they are minors. Broitzman faces a total of 11 criminal charges and Larson faces 10 – including assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact.

The Albert Lea Police Department launched an investigation after they were notified of the suspected abuse of the adults suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia at the nursing home in May 2008. The probe led them to several young part-time nursing assistants.

While several of them took part in the alleged abuse, according to the complaint, authorities were also investigating teens who failed to report the incidents.

ABCNews.com was unable to reach either Broitzman or Larson for comment.

In an interview with police on May 6, 2008, Broitzman admitted to poking a patient in the breasts and said that "numerous videos and pictures were taken of residents."

The alleged abuse is believed to have taken place between Jan. 1 and May 1, 2008.

One of the minors involved in the abuse told authorities that Broitzman and Larson would play with a patient's cane, "ride it like a horse" and "spank [the patient] on the buttocks with it."

According to the criminal complaint filed against Larson, the teen admitted to spitting water on a resident, lying in a bed with a resident and kissing her and inserting a finger into a patient's rectum.

Larson states that there was a video of the group taking off a patient's hat "to antagonize him." Larson also admitted to patting a resident's buttocks, according to the complaint.

Another unidentified teen claims in the complaint that she recalled an instance when Ashton had been "washing a guy up and was rougher than they needed and he got an erection from it."