A Bloomington man has admitted to sexually assaulting a woman last year while employed as her health aide at a Burnsville assisted-living home.

John Akonkoh, 54, pleaded guilty in Dakota County District Court to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with assaulting the then-75-year-old woman at Regent at Burnsville last December. The woman had dementia and was partially paralyzed from an earlier stroke, the charges said.

John Akonkoh (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Akonkoh’s admission last week came three days before a trial was set to begin. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed not to pursue an aggravated sentence of 25 years in prison. The plea deal calls for concurrent 15- and 12-year prison terms. Sentencing is scheduled for March 8.

Akonkoh was released from custody Jan. 17 after posting a $250,000 bond.

In August, a lawsuit the woman’s sister had filed against the facility and its three entities was dismissed after a settlement was reached, court records show. The lawsuit, which alleged negligence by improper supervision of staff, sought in excess of $50,000.

Akonkoh had been the woman’s health aide for approximately seven years, the lawsuit said.

Caught on camera

According to the Dec. 30 criminal complaint:

The woman’s sister reported the sexual assault to police on Dec. 28, telling them it was caught on a video camera she had set up in her sister’s room three days earlier.

She said she set up the camera because of an incident that had occurred a few months earlier when some employees were helping her sister out of the shower. She said the facility gave her permission to install the camera, which was motion activated and recorded in 30-second intervals.

The sister said when she reviewed Dec. 27 footage she discovered Akonkoh “fondling (the victim’s) genitals,” the complaint read.

Police reviewed the series of videos, which showed the woman being assaulted twice – in the morning and at night – while she was lying on her back and either fully or partially nude. In both instances, she either tensed up or flinched and made noise or sighed as if she was in pain.

A nurse who performed a sexual assault examination on Dec. 28 noted abrasions to her vagina. Akonkoh was arrested that day while working at the facility.

In an interview with police, Akonkoh said he applies protective cream to the woman’s buttocks and lotion to her skin as part of routine diaper change.

Officers told Akonkoh that there had been a video camera in the woman’s bedroom and asked him if he penetrated the woman with his fingers. “(Akonkoh) sighed, took a long pause, and looked toward the ceiling,” the complaint read. Akonkoh then said he did so “because (the woman) had asked him to.”

None of the videos showed the woman saying anything to Akonkoh, and administrative staff at the facility told officers there would be no reason for a health aide to penetrate a patient or apply creams to sensitive areas.

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