A residential care worker gets prison in Maine for assaults on a disabled man

BANGOR, Maine — A Maine nursing home worker is headed to prison after pleading guilty to what prosecutors described as “grotesque and widespread” attacks on a disabled man.

Zachery Conners, 26, was one of four employees accused of assault, including waterboarding, strangulation and sexual abuse, on a nonverbal adult male client at the Lee Residential Care center in Hampden.

He pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a dependent over a three-year period and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Aug. 30. His three former colleagues are awaiting trial on similar charges, according to court records.

Prosecutors said the four workers had complete control over the residents and used their power to commit torture and abuse. Conners was accused of strangling the victim until he was unconscious and participating in waterboarding, in which the victim’s face was covered with cloth while water was sprayed on his face to simulate drowning, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say the victim was also struck on the genitals, beaten with a large spoon, sexually abused with objects and encouraged to perform sexual acts on another resident.

“The defendant was paid to protect these vulnerable citizens. He did the exact opposite,” Assistant Attorney General Patricia Poulin wrote.

Messages seeking comment from the center and Conners’ attorney were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Lee Residential Services lost its state license last year after police investigations that began with a January 2022 report that a staff member brought a weapon to work and a report of assault two months later, said Lindsay Hammes, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

She said the department fully supported and cooperated with the investigation, and that she was “deeply disturbed by the information law enforcement has uncovered.”