House Bill 2704 and Violence in Nursing Homes

Since April 2004, Wes Bledsoe has documented over 1600 registered sex offenders who are living as residents in America’s nursing homes.

In addition, he has uncovered inmates, parolees, sex offenders who are not required to register, felons, violent offenders found incompetent to stand trial, and residents who assault others but are never charged due to mental incompetence of the assailant and / or victim(s).

Bledsoe has documented over 50 murders, rapes, sexual and physical assaults committed by criminal offenders while living in long-term care facilities across the nation. Bledsoe has documented several cases of rape and assault committed by offenders while living in Oklahoma’s long-term care facilities.

Action on HB 2704 was prompted last May, after Bledsoe reported that Earl Bradford Postelle (43) had been ordered to reside in the Oak Hills Nursing Center, in Jones, by Judge Ray C. Elliott. Postelle was accused of killing three men and one woman on Memorial Day in 2005, with assault weapons. Postelle was later found to be incompetent to stand trial due to a motorcycle accident after the murders.

During the intense media coverage last May, Rep. Kris Steele contacted Bledsoe pledging his support to sponsor a bill to create a special long-term care facility for criminal offenders.

During an Interim Study last October, Bledsoe presented documentation to state representatives that 57 registered sex offenders had been found in Oklahoma nursing homes and other long-term care facilities since he began his research in April 2004.

In October 2007, 30 registered sex offenders were currently residing in facilities – 16 in nursing homes and 14 in residential care facilities. Twelve were listed by the Department of Corrections as “Aggravated” and two were identified as “Habitual” sex offenders. 29 of the 30 were male.

The 30 offenders’ ages ranged as follows.

20’s – 2
40’s – 7
50’s – 11
60’s – 4
70’s – 3
80’s – 3

26 of the offenders we convicted since 1990.

Offenses included rape, kidnapping, sexual battery, lewd or indecent proposals / acts to child, crime against nature / sodomy, solicit minor for indecent expose / photos, prepare / dist / exhibit obscene material, and indecent exposure.

Of the 27 registered sex offenders who had been previously identified by Bledsoe, seven were listed on the Department of Corrections website as “Delinquent” for failing to register, 13 were no longer posted on the sex offender registry site, and seven had moved to private residences.

Bledsoe has further documented with news reports, police records, and court documents that elderly, “incapacitated,” wheelchair bound offenders and child molesters do pose a threat to disabled and elderly adults, staff and visitors. While Bledsoe was working with a Dallas TV station, the reporters uncovered the sexual assault of a three-year-old little girl while she was visiting her great-grandfather in a Richardson, TX nursing home.

Bledsoe’s efforts sparked a federal investigation in 2004, with the support of former U.S. Representative Brad Carson by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO supported Bledsoe’s findings that over half of the registered sex offenders found in nursing homes were under 65 years of age – while 90 percent of nursing home residents were 65 or older. Two-thirds of the residents in nursing homes are female. 99 percent of the offenders living in nursing homes were male.

“This indicates an obvious inappropriate placement of these offenders with unsuspecting, vulnerable nursing home residents,” states Bledsoe.

Bledsoe hopes the Oklahoma legislature with pass Steele’s bill and that it will be signed by Governor Henry. Bledsoe believes the bill will serve as model legislation for other states, much like Oklahoma’s methamphetamine statues.

The Oklahoma State House of Representatives, Public Health Committee is scheduled to hear HB 207 on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 10:30 am in room 432A.

To contact Wes Bledsoe – Cell (405) 308.3858 – Email Wes@APerfectCause.org.