Was home health aide accused of sexually assaulting elderly woman properly vetted?

TURTLE CREEK, Pa. — A man is still in jail on a $100,000 bond after police say he sexually assaulted an 81-year-old woman in a senior high-rise in Turtle Creek.

James Gerald Smith, 47, is a home health aide who worked for a company called Sweet Golden Years LLC in Monroeville.

Channel 11 did some digging and discovered that Sweet Golden Years is registered with the state.

Channel 11's Courtney Brennan called the company to ask if Smith was screened or vetted, but the man who answered the phone hung up on her.

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"The older people we're seeing now are more trusting, so they are obviously more vulnerable," said Carol Brackett, an advocate for the elderly and divisional chief at Allegheny County's Area Agency on Aging.

Brackett told Channel 11 it's critically important to check the credentials of home health aides, even if they come from a reputable agency. She also recommends that family members make surprise visits.

"Don't let that caregiver know you're going to come in. And if you stop in, don't stop in the same time all the time, because you want them to know at any point somebody can come into that situation and they're not totally alone," she said.

Smith was supposed to help the woman with cleaning her apartment. Instead, police say, he sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions.

Police say Smith sexually assaulted the woman inside her apartment at John Fraser Hall, an Allegheny County Housing Authority high-rise.

According to police, it happened twice in January before the woman, who suffers from mental illness, told her social worker.

Channel 11 found that Smith was charged last January with theft, receiving stolen property and writing bad checks.

That case is still active.

He also pleaded guilty in 1998 to simple assault in Westmoreland County.

Smith will be in court for the theft case in 12 days.

Cox Media Group