A criminal charge has been laid after five former employees at Sudbury’s city-owned nursing home were fired for exchanging ‘inappropriate’ Snapchat photos of long term care residents.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service said a 35-year old woman has been charged with distributing intimate images without consent.
The woman was arrested on Tuesday.
“As a result of our investigation into this matter and we conducted several interviews,” said Inspector Mike Chapman, Greater Sudbury Police Service.
The police said the images are intimate in nature, resulting in the criminal charge, which Inspector Chapman said has a complex set of legal guidelines.
"Essentially the images have to be captured on some form of recording device and then they have to be shared with people and ultimately the person has to be unaware of it and unable to consent to the sharing of the images and the images have to be of private parts of that person. There has to be an expectation of privacy and in this investigation it was determined that they did,” he explained.
An investigation was launched back in June after a staff member’s complaint. At the time, city officials said 10 residents were involved.
As for the other four former nursing home staff, police officials said an investigation determined they did share photos, but they were not ‘intimate images’.
Pioneer Manor is home to many elderly and vulnerable people, and is run by the city, which stands by the dismissals.
"We stand by the action that was taken as a result of our investigation, which focused on internal policies and procedures," reads a statement from the city.
Police say they are not releasing the woman's name until the charge is sworn before the court. Her first appearance is scheduled for August 16.
