The family members of the alleged victims of abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea came out in large numbers Wednesday in what was their first opportunity to see the two teenagers who allegedly abused their loved ones.

The family members watched in Freeborn County District Court first as Brianna Broitzman, 19, came into the courtroom before Judge Steve Schwab and then as Ashton Larson, also 19, appeared before the judge.

Neither entered a plea, but Schwab did set the conditions of release and bail for both.

The courtroom audience was silent.

“You feel frozen,” said one member of the group, Jean Hanson, whose mother and father were both allegedly abused in the case. “There’s no feelings, you’re just frozen. I don’t know what to feel.”

After sitting through the arraignments of both teenagers, the family members briefly met with Wes Bledsoe, the founder and president of A Perfect Cause, a nationally known victim’s advocacy group, right outside the courtroom. This was Bledsoe’s second visit to Albert Lea to give his support to the families.

Then the group made their way down the steps of the Freeborn County Courthouse to talk with members of the press about what they had just experienced.

“I think it’s the beginning stages of seeing some form of justice,” said Jan Reshetar, whose mother-in-law was allegedly abused.

Reshetar said though she obviously would have liked to have seen harsher charges, she is dealing with what has been brought forward.

She hopes the case and the community will be able to come together to bring about changes in legislation on a state and national level for vulnerable adults.

Hanson, whose mother died in March and whose father is now living in a different nursing home facility, said when she reads about the allegations of what happened to her parents she gets physically sick.

She said it took her two days to get through the criminal complaint for the first time.

“I just don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.

She expressed that she still has a lot of guilt about having her mother and father in the facility, and she is still digesting what happened in the courtroom.

When asked about her feelings toward Broitzman and Larson after seeing them for the first time, Reshetar said, “I’m sad for them. Their families are going through some horrendous situations.”

Earlier that morning before the arraignment, many of the family members met with Bledsoe to briefly discuss what they might see in court that day.

Bledsoe warned the group of the large number of news media that would be in attendance at the event and said that the large interest actually might be a good sign.

“Others are recognizing what happened to your loved ones is not right,” he said.

Jim Carey, who is involved more with the civil end of this case, told the family members that he thinks by being unified as families of the alleged victims, it shows “the prosecutor and the judge that we care, if not verbally, than at least by presence.”

“We’re going there this morning in mass to show that we care,” Carey said. Bledsoe echoed Carey’s comments.

“This can be a place where your voice can be heard,” Bledsoe said. “We have an opportunity to be a part of something incredible.”

Carey said initiatives for great change in this country have started in cities the size of Albert Lea.

Broitzman and Larson face charges ranging from mandated failure to report suspected abuse to criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult and assault in the fifth degree.

Court papers filed with the charges state that the two teenagers allegedly spit water on residents, poked residents in the breasts, antagonized residents and tried to arouse residents by inappropriately touching them in the genitals, among other actions.