A former employee of a Little Canada group home admitted in court Monday to sexually assaulting a woman with severe mental and physical disabilities who lived in the residence, court records day.
Peter Daniel Hackman, 27, made the admission while pleading guilty to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ramsey County District Court, court records say.
“I think he tried to own this from the beginning,” Hackman’s attorney, Zachary Van Cleve, said of his client’s decision to enter the plea. “(He) knows what he did was wrong and unforgivable and had no problem accepting responsibility for that.”
Hackman assaulted the 27-year-old resident while he was caring for her at the group home last March 7, authorities say.
Another staff member reported her concerns after she discovered the woman, who is dependent on a wheelchair and nonverbal, naked in the bathroom with what appeared to be semen on her leg.
Only she and Hackman had been in contact with the resident since the previous evening.
A subsequent examination conducted at Regions Hospital in St. Paul revealed signs she had been sexually assaulted.
When interviewed by investigators, Hackman initially denied the conduct and said the substance found on the resident’s leg was likely yogurt he gave her that morning to take her medication, the complaint said.
He confessed what he did the following day after he was hospitalized for attempting suicide, according to court documents. He told police at the time that the woman attempted to fight him off during the assault.
The only convictions on Hackman’s criminal record are for minor traffic violations.
He is expected to receive a 7½- to nine-year sentence when he is sentenced in December.
HOW TO REPORT SUSPECTED ABUSE
Reports of suspected abuse or maltreatment of vulnerable adults in Minnesota can be made by calling the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center’s 24-hour hotline at 1-844-880-1574, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ website.