By Mike Sever
Record-Courier staff writer
An 82-year-old man charged with the 2007 sexual assault of a resident of the Portage County nursing home has been found incompetent to stand trial.
A hearing has been set for 2:30 p.m. Monday to determine what to do next in regard to Ben W. Detweiler of Randolph.
According to court records, a court-ordered competency review determined that Detweiler is not competent and has no chance of being restored to competency within a year. Both the prosecution and defense have agreed with the results of the review.
Detweiler was indicted last November on one count of rape, a first-degree felony, and two counts of gross sexual imposition, fourth-degree felonies, for incidents that allegedly occurred in March and August 2007 at The Woodlands at Robinson, the county's nursing home in Ravenna.
Detweiler allegedly assaulted the victim while he was in the nursing home to visit another resident.
The alleged victim, who has since died, was physically incapacitated and unable to resist the alleged assaults.
She and her son filed a civil suit against The Woodlands, Detweiler and others. That suit is still pending.
The allegations also were investigated by the Ohio Department of Health, which determined the facility was deficient for failing to keep the resident safe and for failing to promptly report an alleged abuse incident as required.
As a result of the criminal allegations and a subsequent investigation, Portage County commissioners replaced the home's administrator with a management firm, and the director of nursing was suspended and later resigned.