Nursing home janitor arrested for sexual abuse

Police arrested a janitor at Hudson Pointe at Riverdale for attempting to sexually assault an 81-year-old female resident of the nursing facility.

Jorge Sarmiento, 56, was arraigned on Saturday for endangering the welfare of an incompetent person and attempted sexual assault. According to the criminal complaint, on the afternoon of Nov. 29, a resident of the facility witnessed the 81-year-old resident inside a closet of a resident’s room with her pants down. Mr. Sarmiento was on one knee with his face inches from her vaginal area.   Hudson Pointe contacted police after hearing about the incident, according to the facility’s administrator David Moskowitz.

The 81-year-old resident suffers from severe cognitive impairments and severe dementia. The nursing director of Hudson Pointe told police that the woman is non-verbal and cannot say, “no.”

Mr. Moskowitz said Mr. Sarmiento has been removed from the facility and he does not anticipate that he will ever return.

“The safety and comfort of our patients and their families is always our first priority and we take any possibility of patient mistreatment very seriously,” Mr. Moskowitz wrote in an e-mail. “Any employee suspected of patient mistreatment is immediately removed from the facility. We will continue to offer authorities our complete cooperation and to provide our patients and their families with the care and support they have come to expect from us.”

Mr. Sarmiento was released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, Jan. 18.