BREMERTON -
Three employees of a Bremerton nursing home won't face criminal charges after all for allegedly e-mailing nude pictures of elderly patients.
The Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office says there's no evidence a crime was committed.
Workers are accused of texting the pictures, including one of a resident lying naked across a bed on her stomach.
The nursing home fired all three of the workers.
Kitsap Health and Rehabilitation Center is a regular part of Midori Wright's week. She comes here to visit her husband who is recovering from a heart attack.
"Most people who work here are very friendly and kind," says Wright.
That is why she can't believe three nursing aides are accused of violating patient privacy in a most distasteful way.
According to a police report, several cell phone pictures were taken, but one was more graphic than the rest.
Police say it shows a female resident's buttocks as she is lying nude across her bed.
Police say the photo was sent to several workers via text message. A witness statement says a worker remembers seeing a cell phone picture of "fat or leg fat" with a message referring to "a fat joke or a whale joke."
Many of the residents at the facility suffer from dementia. Police say none of them was aware their pictures were taken.
"The statements we uncovered (were) the photographs were taken for fun or as a joke," said Lt. Pete Fisher with Bremerton Police.
The Department of Social and Human Services is doing its own investigation. It could take any number of actions from issuing a fine to shutting the place down.
We spoke with one of the accused nurses by phone. She says she was wrongfully terminated and that she wasn't at work the day the picture was taken. The woman is worried she could lose her nursing license and has hired at attorney.
The Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office says there's no evidence a crime was committed.
Workers are accused of texting the pictures, including one of a resident lying naked across a bed on her stomach.
The nursing home fired all three of the workers.
Kitsap Health and Rehabilitation Center is a regular part of Midori Wright's week. She comes here to visit her husband who is recovering from a heart attack.
"Most people who work here are very friendly and kind," says Wright.
That is why she can't believe three nursing aides are accused of violating patient privacy in a most distasteful way.
According to a police report, several cell phone pictures were taken, but one was more graphic than the rest.
Police say it shows a female resident's buttocks as she is lying nude across her bed.
Police say the photo was sent to several workers via text message. A witness statement says a worker remembers seeing a cell phone picture of "fat or leg fat" with a message referring to "a fat joke or a whale joke."
Many of the residents at the facility suffer from dementia. Police say none of them was aware their pictures were taken.
"The statements we uncovered (were) the photographs were taken for fun or as a joke," said Lt. Pete Fisher with Bremerton Police.
The Department of Social and Human Services is doing its own investigation. It could take any number of actions from issuing a fine to shutting the place down.
We spoke with one of the accused nurses by phone. She says she was wrongfully terminated and that she wasn't at work the day the picture was taken. The woman is worried she could lose her nursing license and has hired at attorney.
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