PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Investigators say a nursing assistant admitted to sexually battering three elderly women, but Channel 9 learned that prosecutors dropped the charges against him.
Despite having been arrested on domestic battery and disorderly conduct charges, nursing assistant Joel Maldonado, 23, was able to get a job at Grace Manor in Port Orange.
Now, according to Port Orange Police, Maldonado has admitted to fondling three elderly patients who were suffering from dementia.
Channel 9's Tim Barber spoke to Joel Maldonado's brother, Elias Maldonado, on Tuesday.
"Do you think he is capable of doing something like this?" Barber asked.
"I have never seen it before," Elias Maldonado said. "Kind of came out of nowhere."
Raw: Brother of man who has charges dropped talks to WFTV
He said he believes his brother made a mistake that he will never make again.
"He did, because he felt really bad for it, so that's a good thing, and that is all I basically know," Elias Maldonado said.
Police said the allegations might have gone undiscovered had Joel Maldonado spoken to his minister, who then called police.
Joel Maldonado told detectives that he know it wasn't right, according to a police report.
But charges have been dropped because, according to records, the patients' memories are so poor that they have no recollection of being sexually abused.
"Without those key witnesses or DNA this case is dead. It does not matter if the suspect confessed, prosecutors need to prove a crime was committed," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.
The assisted living facility said its background check on Joel Maldonado came up clean, but said he was fired immediately after he was arrested.