Bill to protect elderly, ill passes

OHIO HOUSE

Some of Ohio’s most vulnerable residents, elderly people often residing in retirement homes and hospitals, might gain new legal protections under a bill unanimously passed Wednesday by the House.

House Bill 68 would expand laws typically used to protect minors from sexual exploitation and obscenity to include impaired people — an intentionally broad definition that covers people recovering from strokes to those suffering from mental impairments such as dementia.

The legislation would make a broad array of crimes a third- degree felony — essentially treating sexually explicit material created with an impaired person the same as if it were created with a minor.

“Basically ( the bill is) to protect those who are vulnerable to predators, whether they are suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s or of advanced age and they don’t know what’s happening to them,” Rep. Marlene Anielski, the bill’s sponsor, said. “It’s adults that have any type of mental or physical condition that they are impaired. It could be of advanced age, but not necessarily.”

The Cincinnati- area Republican proposed the legislation to address what she said is a shortcoming in state law that leaves adults with cognitive impairments vulnerable. The bill was supported by Clevelandarea detectives and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. No organization provided dissenting testimony during committee hearings.

The impetus of the bill is a 2014 case in Cuyahoga County in which about a dozen people in a health care facility were exploited by their caregiver. Two Cuyahoga County detectives detailed the case while providing proponent testimony in a March committee hearing.

All of the victims suffered from cognitive impairment, either recovering from a severe stroke or suffering from a developmental disability, dementia or Alzheimer’s. The explicit photographs of the elderly victims were found on the suspect’s cellphone when police served a warrant during an investigation into the sexual abuse of four young boys.

The county prosecutor did not press felony charges, saying current law does not protect elderly or impaired individuals — only children — from certain types of pornographic exploitation.

Kristen Henry, an attorney with Disability Rights Ohio, warned that the intentionally broad new bill has the potential to infringe on the rights of disabled people. While the intention is positive, she said, there could be unwarranted criminalization for consenting behavior. However, her group does not oppose the proposal.

“With bills like this, it’s important to strike a balance to ensure persons with disabilities have full rights to engage in sexual activities they consent to,” Henry said. “We certainly are opposed to acts of exploitation. … We just want to make sure the legislature is careful in crafting a response so they don’t restrict the rights of people with disabilities.”

The House on Wednesday also elevated Perry County’s part- time judge to a fulltime position.

The bill arose after the Ohio Supreme Court determined that a full- time municipal court judge was necessary in the southeastern Ohio county.