OSWEGO, N.Y. --Four former nursing home aides were charged Tuesday with felonies and misdemeanors for taunting residents and taking still and video digital images of nursing home residents in undignified poses, state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said.

The former aides worked at the Pontiac Nursing Home and St. Luke Health Services, both in Oswego.

"Nursing home residents and their families deserve the peace of mind of knowing that their loved ones will be protected and respected by their caregivers. To record images of residents for one's own amusement is a blatant violation of trust and privacy in the very place these residents call home," Schneiderman said.

Mathew Reynolds, 21, of Oswego, and Angel Rood, 28, of Fulton, were charged with felony first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and two counts of willful violation of the public health law.

A press release from the attorney general's office said that while Reynolds and Rood worked as aides at the Pontiac Nursing Home in Oswego, they allegedly used an iPhone to take demeaning photographs of a resident in undignified positions.

Several of the pictures allegedly depict the defendants lying in bed with a resident and touching the resident in a taunting and abusive manner, the attorney general's office said.

In a separate case, Austin Powell, 24, of Fulton, and Brittany Bolster, 21, of Oswego, were charged with felony first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and two counts of misdemeanor willful violation of the public health law.

Both were working as aides at St. Luke Health Services in Oswego, when they allegedly filmed a video of themselves verbally and physically tormenting a resident, the attorney general's office said.

A video taken by Powell allegedly shows him, together with Bolster, repeatedly touching a resident's nose and taunting her, causing her to become severely agitated and upset at a time when the defendants were required to provide care to her, the state attorney general's office said.

In addition to the emotional trauma the resident allegedly suffered as a result of the defendants' conduct, in the resident's efforts to force the defendants to stop the abuse, the resident repeatedly lashed out in a violent manner, which was likely to cause her physical harm, Schneiderman's office said.

Both facilities have strict policies forbidding the use of cell phones by staff and the creation of either still or video images of nursing home residents.

The defendants were arraigned Tuesday before Oswego City Court Judge James Metcalf and released on their own recognizance and the cases are next on for appearances on October 19.

Since early 2013, the attorney general's office has prosecuted three cases that have addressed abuse and neglect of vulnerable residents of nursing homes by facility employees who violated the law by recording digital images and videos of residents in humiliating poses or conditions, some of which also involved the use of social media such as Facebook and SnapChat to post such images.