A severely disabled resident at Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis was sexually assaulted last December by an employee who had entered the resident's room at night, according to a state investigation released Wednesday.

A witness reported seeing the alleged assailant moving back and forth in a "thrusting motion" about four times, while the resident was on the bed with bare legs exposed. The witness noticed that the resident's incontinence product was open on the bed during the assault, indicating that the victim's undergarments were open, according to the report.

After being discovered, the alleged assailant "quickly moved back from the resident, placed the resident's legs back on the bed and replaced the incontinence product." The witness immediately contacted the night supervisor who removed the alleged assailant from the floor.

Police were called and the alleged assailant was taken to jail and charged with sexual assault, according to the state report.

Walker Methodist initiated an investigation into the matter and is cooperating with police, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The resident, whose age and gender were not disclosed, suffered from Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis and generalized muscle weakness, and required assistance from nursing home staff for "all cares and transfers," the state found. The resident was minimally verbal, giving occasional one-word responses to direct questions, and was quiet during the assault. After the assault, the resident was taken to a hospital for a sexual assault examination.

The Minnesota Department of Health, which investigates reports of maltreatment at nursing homes, cited the individual employee for abuse, and not Walker Methodist. The names of the alleged assailant and the resident were not included in the state report.

Reports of abuse and neglect at Minnesota nursing homes have soared over the past four years. The state received 553 maltreatment reports in the 2013 fiscal year, up from 283 in 2010, according to state data.

In January 2013, an 89-year-old resident of a senior home in northern Minnesota was drugged and raped in her bed by a young male caregiver. Administrators at the facility, Edgewood Vista of Hermantown, Minn., withheld information from investigators and even suggested that the sex was consensual. The state investigated the rape and found the caregiver, and not the facility, was responsible.

Chris Serres • 612-673-4308

Twitter: @chrisserres