35-20-115. Central registry of adult protection cases; establishment; operation; amendment, expungement or removal of records; classification and expungement of reports; statement of person accused.

(a) The department shall establish and maintain a record of all adult protection reports and a central registry of under investigation and substantiated adult protection cases under this act.

(b) Through the recording of reports, the department's recordkeeping system shall be operated to assist the department to:

(i) Immediately identify and locate prior reports of cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of a vulnerable adult to assist in the diagnosis of suspicious circumstances and the assessment of the needs of the vulnerable adult and his caregiver;

(ii) Continuously monitor the current status of all pending adult protection cases;

(iii) Evaluate the effectiveness of existing laws and programs through the development and analysis of statistical and other information; and

(iv) Maintain a central registry of "under investigation" reports and "substantiated" reports of abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults for provision of information to qualifying applicants pursuant to W.S. 35-20-116. Within six (6) months of being placed in the central registry, all reports classified as "under investigation" shall be reclassified as "substantiated" or expunged from the central registry, unless the state agency is notified of an open criminal investigation or criminal prosecution. Unsubstantiated reports shall not be contained within the central registry.

(c) Upon written application of the department or any substantiated person and upon good cause shown and notice to the department, the subject of the report and all interested parties, the department may amend, expunge or remove any record from the central registry.

(d) Any person named as a perpetrator of abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of any vulnerable adult in any substantiated report maintained in the central registry shall have the right to have included in the report a statement concerning the incident giving rise to the report. Any person seeking to include a statement pursuant to this subsection shall provide the department with the statement. The department shall provide notice to any person identified as a perpetrator of this right to submit a statement in any substantiated report maintained in the central registry.

(e) Any person convicted of, or having pled guilty or no contest to, a crime which includes the abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of any vulnerable adult shall have that conviction reported to the department by the court and the report shall be maintained in the central registry.