Larson hearing is slated for December

By Sarah Stultz | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Monday, November 23, 2009

Nineteen-year-old Ashton Larson, one of the two young women charged with alleged elder abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea, is scheduled for a plea hearing Dec. 17 in Freeborn County District Court.

At this hearing, Larson will enter a plea for her charges, which include two counts of fifth-degree assault, five counts of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of disorderly conduct of a vulnerable adult and one count of mandatory failure to report.

The hearing will come a month after Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab issued a written order denying the motion made by Larson’s lawyer to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client for lack of probable cause.

In the order, he stated the case should be scheduled for trial by jury as early as possible.

Charges in the case came in December 2008 after an investigation into the allegations of abuse by local and Minnesota Department of Health officials; however, details of the allegations surfaced August 2008 after the release of the Department of Health’s report.

The report concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea from January through May 2008. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Co-defendant Brianna Broitzman pleaded not guilty to similar charges in August. Her jury trial has been scheduled for April 2010.

Larson’s hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 17.

The case once garnered national attention from media outlets such as NBC’s “Today,” The Associated Press and “Paul Harvey News and Comment.” The spotlight on the case likely will return at trial.

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