Attorney General Mike Cox announced Wednesday the findings of two studies conducted in 2005 on Michigan's adult residential care facilities.

The studies revealed that about 10 percent of the employees caring for residents at these facilities have criminal backgrounds.

NURSING HOMES Statistics, Safety Guidelines To report Medicaid provider fraud, identity theft or patient abuse in a resident care facility, call the attorney general's 24-hour hotline at (800) 24-ABUSE, or Send an e-mail to hcf@michigan.gov.

"The criminal histories and warrants we discovered range from minor traffic violations, to armed robberies, homicides and criminal sexual conduct," said Cox.

The first study reviewed the criminal backgrounds of a statewide sample of Michigan's 40,000 certified nurses aides, the single-largest group of certified workers providing direct care to residents, according to a news release from the attorney general's office. Of the more than 5,500 CNAs studied, 9 percent had a total of 836 outstanding criminal warrants and 3 percent, or 170, had past criminal convictions.

The second study checked the background of entire employee populations -- from CNAs to administrators -- at four nursing homes in four different regions across the state, according to the release. A total of 618 employees were evaluated and 58 of them had more than 100 outstanding warrants, and 68 staff members had past criminal convictions.

Cox has not revealed the names of the nursing homes used in the studies.

The attorney general commissioned the studies in response to a disturbing series of cases uncovered by his Healthcare Fraud Division, which investigates and prosecutes Medicaid provider fraud and residential care facility abuse and neglect, according to the release. The division found that 43 percent of individuals and 25 percent of employees charged for crimes against residents in the past three years have previous criminal convictions.

Cox is working to toughen state laws and require that facilities conduct yearly background checks on employees.