SEATTLE -- Guilty! Two former Rainier School employees admit to criminal assault Friday. That comes as a direct result of an exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation into treatment of disabled patients at the state-run school.

We were expecting a trial next week in Pierce County, but late Friday, two of the three Rainier employees, our cameras caught slapping and punching disabled patients, pled guilty instead.

One particularly disturbing assault shows care-supervisor Karl Whitehouse smacking an 88-year-old severely disabled woman in the face, twice. Our hidden cameras caught that act -- and others -- during a picnic outing near the Rainier School in Buckley.

According to prosecutors, instead of facing such clear proof in court, Whitehouse decided to plead guilty to three counts assault.

Former temporary worker Michelle Martin just did the same. We watched her slap clients on the head and push several down to the ground within a 45-minute span. She is in jail right now, sentenced to serve seven days, before spending another 83 days on home monitoring.

Because of our videotape of the events, Rainier Director Neal Crowley previously told Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne that he fired both Whitehouse and Martin. He also banned from working at any state facility again.

“Those kinds of violations, those kinds of wrongs, we think are perpetuated by a small number of people. This video had a huge impact on the staff that work here. People were crying. People were upset and they were shocked that their coworkers would do something like that.”

A month before our investigative videographer captured these images, Rainier School officials were tipped that employees were mistreating disabled clients at the park. Because there was no "proof," nothing was done. That's when we started our surveillance. Once we confirmed that the caregivers were state employees, we contacted the Department of Social and Health Services. DSHS is the agency that hired all the employees we caught slapping, poking and smacking vulnerable patients.

Kathy Leicht, a supervisor at DSHS, told us “We don't tolerate that in our department. We actually give examples in that policy to make it clear to staff what is not acceptable and any kind of hitting or swinging at a client is totally inappropriate.”

After seeing several video clips, DSHS immediately took action, first calling the State Patrol. That agency subpoenaed all of our tape, which ended up being key evidence in charging of three employees with a total of eight counts of fourth-degree assault.

Chief John Batiste praised our work.

“There's a responsibility to those individuals being abused and there is a responsibility to the families of those who have been placed in that facility,” Batiste said.

The final hold-out , still maintaining his innocence, is longtime state employee David Pardy. He faces an several counts of assault at a trial next month.

At that same time, Karl Whitehouse, the man who punched that elderly woman in the face, will be sentenced. Prosecutors say he faces certain jail time.