Joel Babb

A Fort Dodge man convicted of sexually abusing a patient at a nursing home where he was working has been arrested for allegedly violating his parole.

Joel Babb, 64, is accused of committing multiple parole violations over the course of August 2017.

Among the violations include an allegation that he was living, and involved in a sexual relationship with, a woman who suffers from a mental disability, according to Babb’s parole violation report.

The report went on to say that Babb also allegedly visited a campground in Emmetsburg for five days without notifying his parole officer.

It’s further alleged that Babb had a Facebook account, as well as a Match.com online dating profile, neither of which was registered with the Webster County Sheriff’s Department, as they were supposed to be.

Babb also allegedly violated his curfew on two separate occasions, the report stated.

He made his initial appearance in Webster County Magistrate Court Friday morning.

Magistrate William Thatcher told Babb that he would be held without bond until a hearing could be scheduled in front of the parole board.

Thatcher also appointed attorney Charles Kenville, of Fort Dodge, to represent Babb during the proceedings.

Babb’s case was then sent to Webster County District Court, which will schedule a hearing in front of the parole board at a later date.

Babb was convicted in 2011 of third-degree sexual abuse. He had committed a sexual act on May 23, 2010, with a female Friendship Haven resident who was in her 40s and living at the Tompkins Health Center.

Babb, who was working as a certified nursing assistant at the time, never denied he performed the sexual act, but claimed it was consensual.

Jurors disagreed.

The victim suffered from a traumatic brain injury that rendered her in need of basic care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Babb was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He was paroled in September 2015, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.