By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - A 30-year-old Cincinnati-area woman has been indicted on allegations that she used a cordless telephone to hit a mentally disabled man who was in her care at a Butler County facility.

Assistant Prosecutor Brenda Cox said the case of Nicole Sanders of Evanston, on Cincinnati's east side, was among 26 indictments that a Butler County grand jury released Thursday.

Sanders is charged with patient abuse, a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison, and a misdemeanor charge of assault.

Although a Cincinnati Enquirer investigation last year found that victimization of the mentally retarded is rarely prosecuted, this is at least the third such case Butler County authorities have prosecuted on felony charges since 2001. Two previous cases ended with convictions, although Timothy Lee Ivers, 40, of Fairfield, remains free pending an appeal of his conviction and six-month jail sentence.

In the newest case, the charges against Sanders stem from a Nov. 30 incident involving "Terry G.," a 58-year-old man, at the Fairfield Center, 350 Kolb Drive, Fairfield, court and police records say.

The facility serves clients of the Butler County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and Sanders was working there at the time of the alleged crimes. A spokeswoman for the agency, Pam Long, could not be reached, so Sanders' employment status was unclear Thursday.

Cox said two other employees witnessed Sanders striking the man repeatedly.

A Fairfield police report, filed Dec. 5, said the victim was "functionally impaired and unable to care for himself." The report also says the victim suffered a bruise under his left eye and an "apparent injury" in his groin area. Cox said the man required no ongoing treatment for those injuries.

Sanders' arraignment has been set for Tuesday before Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com