Two former nursing home employees pleaded guilty to reduced charges yesterday for harassing and abusing a 94-year-old Alzheimer's patient at the John J. Kane Regional Center in Glen Hazel last year. The prosecution dropped all charges against a third former employee for lack of evidence.

The elderly victim has since died of unrelated causes.

The abuse case drew a great deal of attention in December when Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato denounced the five Kane aides who were initially identified by investigators in a news conference, stating, "These five individuals tainted the entire industry."

Prosecutors dropped charges against one of those five at a preliminary hearing in February. Another, a practical nurse named Mary Ann Bower, was convicted in February of summary harassment and fined $300.

Yesterday, an attorney for one of the defendants blasted Mr. Onorato in court, for making "an unwarranted, unethical intrusion" that stalled the legal process for his client.

The county terminated all five defendants in November.

Yesterday, Karen Perry, 46, of Homestead, pleaded to a summary charge of harassment, for yelling at the patient, Thelma Bryant, who used a wheelchair. Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone said that had the case gone to trial witnesses would have testified that Ms. Perry antagonized the elderly woman, telling her that she had slept with Mrs. Bryant's husband. Witnesses would have said that she hit the patient in the forehead and threw an orange at Mrs. Bryant.

Shelly Keene, 36, of West Mifflin, pleaded to one count of simple assault. The prosecutor said she would have called witnesses who saw Ms. Keene hitting Mrs. Bryant in the forehead. Medical records indicated the victim did not suffer any injuries as a result.

The district attorney dropped all charges against Shalaya Hatten, 31, of the Hill District. She had been charged with simple assault, neglect and harassment.

After her hearing, Ms. Hatten said she felt vindicated, though she was humiliated by the charges. She had worked at Kane for nine years and was on vacation at the time she was alleged to have harmed Ms. Bryant. Ms. Hatten said she does not intend to try to get her job back and has sued the county in civil court.

Earlier, Ms. Capone told Common Pleas Judge Kathleen A. Durkin she had come to an agreement with Kane administrators on reduced charges for the other two defendants. The defendants agreed not to seek employment at a Kane facility.

Attorney Leo C. Harper Jr., who represented Ms. Perry, said after the hearing that as a lawyer, Mr. Onorato "knows he is not supposed to make comments about a criminal case that he knows nothing about."

"It jeopardized the case," he added, saying that in 32 years of law practice he's never seen a county executive or commissioner put themselves in this position.

Mr. Onorato's spokesman, Kevin Evanto, countered that "What is unethical and unwarranted were the actions of those women against that defenseless woman in the Kane center in Glen Hazel," countered Onorato spokesman Kevin Evanto. "We have more than 1,000 seniors and people with disabilities in our care in the four Kane centers and we have an obligation to protect them to make sure they are safe and well cared for. Any time we discover any unconscionable and inappropriate behavior by our staff and care givers, we're going to take action."

Relatives of Mrs. Bryant did not attend the hearing.

Judge Durkin sentenced Ms. Perry to 90 days of probation and Ms. Keene to two years of probation. She made it a condition of their probation that they not seek work with the elderly in any capacity.

"This is everybody's nightmare," Judge Durkin said, getting choked up as she spoke. "They put their parents or loved ones into a home --they want the person to at least be decently cared for. Frankly, this is not easy to hear. I do think this is despicable behavior."

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