UNION COUNTY, Pa. — Last week, Lynn Fiedler and her family and friends held up signs outside the Union County Courthouse calling for justice. Fiedler's mother was one of at least 12 patients abused at Heritage Springs Memory Care near Lewisburg.
Madison Cox, 19, and a juvenile admitted to taking disturbing pictures and videos of the patients while they were partially clothed or nude.
"I could allow the criminal justice system and legal system to take over, and when it was over, it was over. Or I could take a horrific situation and make something positive out of it," Fiedler said.
Fiedler decided to do the latter, and that's how Journey to Justice was formed. The task force consists of victims' family members, local law enforcement, former healthcare workers, Union County District Attorney Brian Kerstetter, and State Senator Lynda Schlegel-Culver.
"We're coming to learn that we're not protecting our senior citizens," Sen. Lynda Schlegel-Culver said. "We're leaving them out there very vulnerable. The law is not the same as if you were a child."
The goal of the task force is to create new legislation to better protect our senior citizens.
"One of the things that I'm looking at, that we're working on, is getting a list created, a registry similar to Megan's Law, but for people who are elder abusers," Fiedler said.
A similar piece of legislation was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate last summer, called Senate Bill 885. It calls for providing a statewide registry of perpetrators of abuse in facilities.
"We're going to be tweaking the law over the next few weeks, and we're going to reintroduce it, seek out sponsors, and try to get it moving," Sen. Schlegel-Culver said.
The group plans to rename S.B. 885 as Alice's Law after Fiedler's mother.
"No one should ever have to go through what my family and I Have gone through, nor, of course, what these victims have suffered," Fiedler said.
Sen. Schlegel-Culver says there are many steps to getting a bill passed, but she is optimistic. While this task force is in its early stages, Fiedler says they are on a journey to justice and are in it for the long haul.
As for Madison Cox, a judge threw out her plea agreement earlier this month, saying it was not sufficient punishment.
Cox will either go to trial, or another plea agreement could be arranged.