News Briefs, police

Assisted-living worker assaulted a resident

By Evan Johnson

HARTFORD—A 22-year-old worker at a Hartford assisted-living facility has been accused of sexually abusing an 83-year-old woman with dementia.

Valley Terrace employee Michael Paton, allegedly had sex with the woman in her room on Monday, according to a news release from Vermont State Police issued on Tuesday night.

Police said in the release an employee at the facility caught Paton in the act. The woman was treated and later released from an area hospital.

Paton was arrested Tuesday, April 25, and lodged at the Southern Vermont Correctional Facility without bail pending trial. On Wednesday, he was arraigned in Windsor County Court, where he entered a not guilty plea on the felony charge of sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult and one felony county of sexual assault. If convicted, Paton faces the possibility of life in prison.

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