Guilty pleas for abuse get community service
The Richmond Register had an article about three employees who were arrested, indicted, and plead guilty after a family placed a hidden camera in their mother's room. Valerie Lamb (one of three employees of Madison Manor nursing home indicted for abuse of a patient) pled guilty in Madison District Court to one count of misdemeanor abuse of an adult. Judge Earl-Ray Neal accepted the state recommended sentence of a two-year diversion program that includes 50 hours of community service. Lamb’s community service may not involve work with children, vulnerable adults or any program funded by Medicaid or Medicare, according to the judge’s order. She also must remain drug free and commit no other criminal violation.
Lamb was indicted after the family of Armeda Thomas suspected their loved one was being abused at the nursing home and planted a hidden camera to record her care in August 2008. The indictment accused Lamb of reckless abuse and neglect of an adult by “lifting Thomas by her neck and by highly raising her legs when she performed incontinent changes resulting in pain or injury to Ms. Thomas.”
Another defendant in the case, Jaclyn Dawn VanWinkle of Richmond, also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and received a similar sentence. VanWinkle later was indicted on rape and sodomy charges for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy.
A third defendant in the Madison Manor abuse case, Amanda Sallee of Richmond, is scheduled to stand trial March 15 in Madison Circuit Court on charges of wanton abuse of an adult. The indictment of Sallee accused her of denying Thomas food between Sept. 1 and Sept. 5, 2008, and eating the meals herself. Wanton abuse or neglect of an adult is a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison if convicted. Reckless abuse or neglect is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
