STATE COLLEGE,PA. -- Families across the Alleghenies place their trust in nursing facilities to care for loved ones, but a report of a recent crime in Centre County has some people questioning the safety of local long-term-care facilities.

State College Police arrested 76-year-old Donald Weiss on suspicion of indecent assault and harassment Monday.

According to authorities, an employee inside the Hearthside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center witnessed Weiss inappropriately touching a mentally disabled resident.

Weiss was reportedly a wheelchair-bound resident inside Hearthside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Weiss is listed on the Pennsylvania Megan’s Law Web site as a sexually violent predator for an indecent assault conviction in 2004.

Hearthside Nursing and Rehabilitation declined to answer any question about the allegations or the facility’s resident policies.

Wes Bledsoe, president of A Perfect Cause, has spent years fighting for long-term care reform.

Bledsoe discussed the growing issue of registered sex offenders living in nursing facilities by phone from Miami with WJAC-TV Tuesday.

“Around the country, there are a lot of violent sexual offenders who are being warehoused in nursing homes and assisted living facilities," said Bledsoe. “That practice has got to stop.”

Despite being a major liability, Bledsoe believes some care facilities accept sex offenders for financial gain.

“Most of the cases we’ve seen, it’s about the money,” said Bledsoe. “To have another person in another bed for a year can be a significant financial advantage to them.”

Even though families with loved ones in nursing homes attempt to research facilities, Centre County Office of Aging Director Jane Taylor said people are usually left in the dark because of HIPPA and privacy laws.

“Talk with the facility and see what their policy is in terms of dealing with these kinds of issues,” said Taylor. “They can certainly check the Megan’s law list, but I don’t know that the facility is able to release the name of the resident.”

In a similar case in Wyoming County, a family was awarded $1.1 million after a registered sex offender living in a nursing home sexually assaulted an elderly resident.

Weiss is being held at the Centre County Correctional Facility with bail set at $15,000.