A former caregiver was sentenced to prison for raping elderly residents of a retirement community in Ohio.
According to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 36-year-old Wayde Shankle of Ashtabula, Ohio, a former caretaker at a Conneaut retirement community, has been sentenced to eight to twelve years in prison for raping elderly residents.
“This was a horrific case of elder abuse at the hands of a predator masquerading as a protector,” Yost said. “My deepest thanks to the investigators and prosecutors who fought for the victims and brought this abuser to justice.”
Shankle pleaded guilty in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court to two first-degree felony counts of rape and was sentenced to prison right away. After his release, he will be required to register as a Tier III sex offender for the rest of his life.
In July, a grand jury indicted Shankle after an investigation revealed that he assaulted two patients of Villa at the Lake, a senior care complex where he worked as a nurse aide. One of the victims was a patient in the community’s memory-care facility.
Yost’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the matter, with help from the Conneaut Police Department and the FBI. The Ashtabula County Prosecutor’s Office handled the case.