By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
A Central Vermont nursing and assisted living center is being sued on grounds that a caretaker sexually assaulted a vulnerable elderly dementia patient at the facility last year, new court records show.
The Manor in Morrisville is being sued on claims of gross negligence in hiring and supervising the Lamoille County man as a licensed nursing assistant, when court records indicated he had a known history of multiple sexual assaults, according to the civil lawsuit filed in Vermont Superior Court this week.
The Manor, which is on the Washington Highway, had a duty to investigate the background of Paul A. Williams, 60, most recently of Morristown, before they hired him in the summer of 2024, court papers noted.
The lawsuit also makes a separate claim for “outrageous conduct” by The Manor for hiring Williams about 8 years after he was arrested for a felony charge of aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon for a knifepoint attack on a woman at his Stowe home.
Former Lamoille County State’s Attorney Paul Finnerty, nine months after filing the sex crime charge in the Stowe case, dismissed the felony count as jury selection for the trial was starting in July 2017, court records show.
There was no indication in the public court records on why Finnerty did not proceed.
Williams is due for sentencing on Monday in Vermont Superior Court in Hyde Park for a criminal charge of sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caretaker at The Manor.
The Jamaican native pleaded guilty to the felony charge in a plea deal in February.
Two other counts, which Williams has denied, are expected to be dropped as part of the plea deal: Charges of sexual assault and sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult by lewd and lascivious conduct by a caretaker, records show.
Williams has been held at a state prison in St. Johnsbury since Nov. 6, 2024, the day the incident was reported to Morristown Police. He was initially held without bail, but later a judge set bail at $100,000.
Williams is not named as a defendant in the new civil lawsuit. His defense lawyer in the criminal case, C. Jordan Handy of Burlington, did not respond to a request for comment.
Burlington attorney Brooks McArthur, who filed the civil lawsuit on behalf of the woman, wrote the decision by The Manor to hire Williams “gave him the opportunity to prey on a vulnerable adult – a 95-year-old woman with dementia who was unable to defend herself – and engage in abhorrent criminal sexual conduct with her.”
While the name of the woman is public record through the court files, Vermont News First is withholding it as a sex crime victim.
The victim moved out of The Manor and is currently living in Chittenden County, court records note.
Lynn Smith, executive director of the Manor and Stephanie Sweet, the resident care and services director, did not respond to messages left for them at The Manor on Friday. The Manor’s website says it provides long-term care, residential care, and short-term rehabilitation. It includes dementia and palliative care.
The Vermont Office of Professional Regulation appears to have taken licensing action against Williams, but their records are unclear. A person named Paul Williams, with no other identifying information, including age and hometown, signed a voluntary indefinite suspension for his license, the OPR website notes. Part of the suspension order has it listed as the Vermont Board of Nursing, while the bottom half of the order says the action was taken by the “Board of Pharmacy” in December 2024.
Williams was hired to provide care for residents of The Manor, McArthur said in court papers.
Yet McArthur wrote a Stowe Police affidavit from its 2016 criminal investigation revealed “a history of prior repeated and violent sexual assaults upon the victim perpetrated by Mr. Williams.”
McArthur added, “The allegations include Mr. Williams admitted use of a knife during the sexual assault, his interference with access to the police, and use of violence during past incidents of sexual assault.”
Since the Stowe criminal case was dropped, it was unclear what Williams did and where he lived until his hiring at The Manor.
The case at The Manor began to unfold when a nursing staff member, John Wong, reported he heard “a tiny female voice call for help” about 3:40 a.m. Nov. 6, 2024, the lawsuit said.
Wong reported he went into a residential room and found Williams sexually assaulting the patient and there was nobody else in the room, the lawsuit said.
Wong reported Williams was kneeling on the bed between the victim’s bare legs, holding them apart and was thrusting, while his pants and underwear were down to his knees, court papers indicated.
Before reporting the incident to a supervisory Registered Nurse, Nurse Wong, summoned another LNA into the room to watch Williams and the victim, records show.
Williams followed Nurse Wong to the RN and attempted to dispute that he was sexually assaulting the elderly woman, records note. Williams claimed he was in the room with the patient to change and clean her, but that did not match what Wong observed, McArthur wrote in the lawsuit.
The Registered Nurse had Williams turn in both his key and entry badge before ordering him to leave The Manor, the lawsuit said.
Morristown Ambulance transported the elderly woman to the UVM Medical Center where she underwent a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE) and subsequent medical treatment, the Morristown Police said in court papers.
Morristown Detective Sgt. Chris Tetreault reported he interviewed Wong and conducted an investigation that led to the arrest of Williams later that day, records show.
In the earlier case in Stowe, the victim reported that Williams had sexually assaulted her about a half dozen times, including the final time before she went to the police.
Stowe Detective Fred Whitcomb said the petrified woman, who was 23 at the time, reported that Williams used a 12-inch knife to coerce her.
Stowe Police said they found Williams at his job washing dishes and interviewed him. He acknowledged the 12-inch knife and a condom, which were found by investigators at his Mountain Road residence in Stowe, Whitcomb said in a court affidavit. Williams claimed he and the victim were “friends with benefits.”
He was arrested and arraigned. Then-Judge Dennis Pearson ordered Williams to surrender his passport. He was eventually bailed out a couple of days later by a local woman.
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Categories: Crime
The entire story is beyond awful, including the fact that his prior behavior had been dismissed.
This really PISSES me off… everything about this is disgusting. I’m a survivor of a violent crime in 1991 when I was severely beaten and then raped by a guy who had quite a rap sheet. These sick SOBs need to be castrated!!!! JMO
It never should have happened. The Judge from the first agrivated sexual assault with knife felony should go to jail too. It never should have happened.
Only one of many horror stories coming out of long-term care facilities. Raising an issue to resolve an issue is an exercise in futility. There is ongoing crisis in nursing homes since 2020. The State ignores it, the Feds ignore it, the owners of most are financial investments firms…they certainly don’t care at all – try contacting them – impossible. The people who work as caregivers are not the problem, most do the best they can with very little support or resources. Bad actors slip in because the dire need for help supercedes any background checks or skill verifications. When you hear a politician or high level bureaucrat talk about protecting the most vulnerable, don’t believe one word. The proof can be found in the number of complaints filed, the number of reports that say problem rectifed, followed by numerous more complaints of the same or different issue. Another symptom of the cultural rot and societial collapse – the elders are on the brunt, brutal end of that process.
Yes. I am absolutely sure that a nursing home in California killed my 96-year-old uncle. “Falling out of a wheelchair” does not give one a huge bruise on the top of one’s head. Of course there’s no way I can prove it.
Vermont’s criminal conviction expungement programs have done society as a whole no favors. Is a nursing home even allowed to do a criminal background check on their prospective employees any more?