Claiming it made "work fun," four young nursing home aides abused 15 dementia residents by hitting their breasts and genitals, sticking fingers in their mouths or noses to keep them from screaming, and taunting them, according to a Minnesota state investigation made public last week.

The four unidentified women—one adult and three juveniles—who were working at Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn., were fired in May upon discovery of the abuse. The details of the case were revealed after family members had been recently informed of the abuse, which apparently occurred for several months, officials said. 

According to the report, one aide spat in a resident's mouth, sexually "humped" some residents, and sat with bare buttocks on the lap of a woman resident who was in a wheelchair.

One aide who witnessed the abuse said that three of the aides would grope one man's genitals to "get a rouse out of him, as in sexual teasing." Another said that all four aides talked of hitting residents’ "boobs or crotch, or rub it around" to make the residents angry. All four aides would hold down residents who resisted care and put a hand over the residents' mouths to muffle their cries.

The nursing home was not at fault and followed correct procedures once the allegations were reported, the Health Department found.

Three of the residents have since died, and the others could not be interviewed by investigators because they all have diseases that affect cognition.

Freeborn County Attorney Craig Nelson said that he will decide by late September whether to bring criminal charges. He said "the standard of proof is higher for criminal charges than for the Health Department's findings. There is no real physical evidence, so it will depend on what people saw and might testify to."