Local Nursing Home Director Pleads Guilty to Three Felonies
The former nursing home administrator who tried covering up a sexual assault in Schulenburg pleaded guilty last week to three felony charges.
Pamela Kay Noell, 62 of Smithville, had been indicted last year for tampering with a witness, tampering with physical evidence and obstruction or retaliation, all third degree felonies. She appeared before District Judge Jeff Steinhauser on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and pleaded guilty to all three charges.
The case stems from a sexual assault that allegedly took place at Paradigm at the Oak nursing center in Schulenburg in November of 2024. Last April, a Fayette County Grand Jury indicted the alleged perpetrator, 75-year-old Kenneth Buell Williams, who was a resident of the facility. The female victim was an elderly disabled resident who also lived at the facility.
Last week, Noell accepted responsibility for coercing a nurse into withholding information during an investigation into the assault by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. She also pleaded guilty to threatening the status of that nurse’s license. In addition, she pleaded guilty to tampering with a witness statement.
Attorney Lesleigh Morton from the Texas Attorney General Office served as special prosecutor in the case. Noell accepted a 10-year suspended prison sentence. In lieu of the prison sentence, she was placed on probation for four years.
The terms of her judgement stipulate that she may not own, operate, manage, volunteer or otherwise be employed in any capacity at any home healthcare, nursing home, assisted living or any similar service or facility. Nor may she act as a caretaker for any individuals outside of her family.
The Record broke the story about the sexual assault last year after we began looking into why so many convicted sex offenders lived at Paradigm at the Oak. At one point last year there were more than two dozen sex offenders living at the facility, according to the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry. There are even more living there now: 31 as of last Friday, Feb. 20.
The perpetrator of the sexual assault, Williams, remains under indictment. According to Fayette County Attorney James Herbrich, Williams was transferred to another nursing facility after his indictment. Herbrich said Williams later absconded from that facility and hasn’t been heard from since. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, Herbrich said.