One of the four teenagers charged with mandated failure to report alleged abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea officially entered a not guilty plea Thursday to her charge in Freeborn County District Court.

Freeborn County Attorney Craig Nelson described the Thursday appearance as a continued initial court appearance. Prior, that teenager had not yet entered a plea — which in court counts the same as a not guilty plea, he said.

She is the third of the teenagers — who were juveniles at the time of the alleged incidents — who are pleading not guilty. One other teenager pleaded guilty to the charge.

A pre-sentence investigation is being conducted for the young woman who pleaded guilty, and pre-trial hearings are being scheduled for the other three young women who pleaded not guilty.

The two young women charged as adults — Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson — have not yet entered pleas to their charges of assault in the fifth degree, criminal abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver and mandated reporter failure to report. Their next appearance in court is at 1 p.m. March 23.

Freeborn County prosecutors charged the six young women — who are all now adults — at the beginning of December. They were all nursing assistants at the Good Samaritan facility at the time of the alleged incidents.

The charges came after an investigation into allegations of abuse by the Albert Lea Police Department, the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Department of Health.

The details of the allegations surfaced after the release of the Department of Health’s report in August that concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The teenagers are no longer employed at the nursing home.