A male nurse and 3 of his friends are serving time behind bars for sexually assaulting dementia patients at an Illinois nursing facility.
Channing Butler, 28, pictured left, worked alone on the night shift at Bickford Assisted Living and Memory Care Center in west Champaign, Illinois. Prosecutors say Butler let Dontrell Netter, 24, and two other men into the nursing home at night so he could videotape them having sex with vulnerable elderly victims.
On Thursday Netter was sentenced to 30 years in prison for assaulting a 90-year-old patient in an attack that prosecutors called “calculated and despicable”.
Butler was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison in 2016 for allowing his friends into the facility. He admitted he also sexually assaulted patients while alone on duty at night.
During Netter’s trial, prosecutors showed jurors a photo from Butler’s cell phone that showed a man having sex with an elderly patient. Butler said he wasn’t certain if Netter was the man committing the act. The man’s face wasn’t visible in the photo.
Netter’s grandmother also testified for the defense, saying she purchased all of her grandson’s clothes for him and she did not recognize the clothing in the photo of the man.
Butler and Netter’s accomplices Dean Goble, 23, and Trent Warren, 20, admitted attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault and were sentenced to 14 and 10 years respectively.
On Thursday Netter’s attorney, Michael McClellan, gave some insight into the minds of young black men who regress back to primitive sexual urges when they believe they will not be caught or held accountable for their actions.
McClellan claimed his client was only having sex with dementia patients to gain “more sexual experience” with women.
“All that Dontrell knows at that moment is he’s got a chance to get more sexual experience,” said McClellan.
He added: “That is a desire that has led many young men to do things that in the calm light of day they would never contemplate doing.”
The News Gazette reported that Netter was unable to complete sexual intercourse on the elderly patient, but he still committed “serious sexual assaults” on her.
Judge Tom Difanis, who sentenced Netter on Thursday, said, “Hopefully there’s a special place in hell for people like Channing Butler.”
