A Stockton man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused four disabled or incapacitated men at a nursing home in Galt, authorities said.
Justin Joseph Atkinson, 23, entered the plea Thursday as he made his first court appearance in Superior Court in Sacramento, the Sacramento County district attorney’s office said.
Atkinson was arrested Tuesday by police in Galt, about 24 miles north of Stockton, after an investigation into reports of sexual assault and elder abuse at a medical facility in the 100 block of F Street. Police said Atkinson worked at the facility, and he was suspended immediately after the allegations were brought to the staff’s attention.
Atkinson is charged with 14 felony counts, all involving male patients. Charges include sexual battery, oral copulation without consent and attempted battery.
The assaults are alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1 and Jan. 29 at the nursing home. In some cases, the complaint says the acts were committed twice on victims.
The facility is not identified in the complaint or in arrest reports from Galt authorities. But a police spokesperson later confirmed the business as the Rancho Seco Care Center, a skilled nursing facility.
A woman answering the phone Friday at Rancho Seco Care Center said the staff would have no comment on the matter.
The complaint against Atkinson alleges that sexual battery against men who were “institutionalized for medical treatment and … seriously disabled and medically incapacitated.” The patients were incapable of resisting “because of mental disorder or developmental or physical disability,” court papers show.
Atkinson remains in the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, the main jail in Sacramento, on $200,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.
Galt police have urged anyone with more information about the case to call 209-366-7000.
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