Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester man has been sentenced to prison for a neglect conviction stemming from the death of his wife.

Seventy-five-year-old Scott Douglas Loven admitted to the felony charge through a plea agreement reached just days before his trial was scheduled to begin in Olmsted County Court in May. In exchange for his guilty plea, a second-degree manslaughter charge was dismissed.

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According to court documents, Loven informed his wife’s pastor that she had passed away on May 4, 2023. Four days later, Rochester police responded to the couple’s home and found her body in the bathtub.

The criminal complaint says that during two interviews with investigators, Loven stated his wife was suffering from dementia, as well as hearing and vision loss. Shortly before she died, he indicated she was also experiencing gastrointestinal issues and that he had helped her into the bathroom.

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He told investigators he later heard her call for help, and when he attempted to move her from the toilet to the bathtub, he fell while moving her. At some point, she fell into the bathtub. The complaint states Loven then refused her request to go to the hospital because he did not want to put her in the car and wait at the hospital.

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Investigators reported finding a working landline phone in the home. Court records say Loven admitted he did not call 911 or anyone else to help his wife while she was stuck in the bathtub. An autopsy later determined she died of a “gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to prolonged immobility due to multiple blunt force injuries.” Her death was ruled a homicide.

Loven was sentenced today to 41 months in prison.

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