State Proposal Would Require Background Checks For Senior Care Workers

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A new New York state proposal would require criminal background checks to keep sex offenders from acquiring jobs at senior care facilities.

The bill proposed by state Assemblyman James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) and Sen. Kathy Marchione (R-Halfmoon) senior facilities to consult the NY sex offender registry for all employees.

Current law does not require the background check, which can be done at no charge to the facilities.

The lawmakers' proposal comes after a recent sex crime at an Albany County home for adults. A convicted sex offender working at the facility is accused of improperly touching a 91-year-old woman.

CBS affiliate WRGB-TV, Albany, reported Richard Ragone, 64, inappropriately touched the woman at the Loudonville Home for Adults. He had been working as a maintenance man at the facility since 2008, but was fired when the incident was reported.

Ragone had been convicted in 1984 of raping and sodomizing a 43-year-old woman, and served a 25-year sentence in state prison. Assisted living facility owner Michael Levine told WRGB he was not aware that Ragone was a sex offender when he was hired.

The bill could be considered in the new legislative session beginning this month.

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