South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

Seattle PI reported the arrest of Gloria Corpuz Hall who was the operator of a Federal Way home for the elderly.  She is facing felony theft charges on allegations that she stole thousands of dollars from a deceased resident.  Prosecutors contend Gloria Corpuz Hall stole $21,775 from the accounts of an elderly woman who had been living at Hall's adult family home, Liberty Adult Care.

According to charging documents, Hall -- a 54-year-old Federal Way resident also known as Gloria Castillo Corpuz -- began drawing money from the woman's accounts months after her death on Jan. 21.  A review of the woman's bank statements, the detective continued, showed Hall had transferred money or forged checks on the woman's accounts at least 20 times.

Hall is alleged to have admitted to the thefts when confronted by police. Writing the court, the Federal Way detective said Hall complained that "she was behind on her mortgage and needed the money."  Charged with only one count of first-degree theft, Hall has not been jailed in the case
 

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The Tennessean had an article about the arrest of Regina Jacobs.  The nursing home employee is charged with stealing more than $400,000 from the nursing home where she
worked for more than 10 years. I wonder how long it was going on?  How could she be so greedy?

Officers with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested her after she was indicted by the Wilson County grand jury on three counts of theft over $60,000, two counts of theft over $10,000 and one count of theft over $1,000.

In December 2008, the nursing home, Quality Care Health Center, finally discovered that Jacobs, a business office manager, had been cashing checks intended to cover patient costs and keeping the money.  An internal investigation and audit at the nursing home revealed that about 70 patients' accounts had been affected.

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WLWT out of Indiana had an article about nursing home employees named Gale Willman and Jody Holton accused of taking prescription pills from their patients and selling them.  Police investigators said Gale Willman, a licensed practical nurse, and Jody Holton, the assistant director of nursing at Woodland Hills Care Center, worked together to steal hydrocodone and oxycodone.  Willman and Holton have both been released on bond and have already found other nursing jobs.

A similar situation occurred at Woodland Hills previously, with nurse Heather White sentenced to a year in jail for stealing ocycodone from a patient.  Prosecutors said 87-year-old Anna Jordan slipped into coma and later died after White stole her pain medication.  The pain and torment included profuse sweating, excruciating headaches and having to be held down as she tried to jump off her bed, all because of withdrawal from oxycodone. White served only six months of her sentence.

The family members are shocked at the latest incident.

"I'm disgusted by it. It makes me question how many more people must be seriously injured or die before something is done at this facility," Jordan said.

Albright and Jordan said they believe monitoring at nursing homes should be stricter and random drug testing should be used. They said there should be investigations if someone suspects prescription drugs are being stolen or misused..

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The Herald Online ran an article on the guilty plea and sentencing of Melissa Rice Kelly for misusing the residents' money.  Kelly was the business office manager at Magnolia Manor in Rock Hill, S.C; this facility is one of the many facilities owned and operated by Murray Forman's Fundamental family of companies.  

Kelly only recieved probation instead of the 70 years she could have faced on the 13 felonies she admitted to in court. Kelly pleaded guilty to 12 counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult and one count of breach of trust with fraud intent.

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Duluth Tribune News had an article about another nursing home employee stealing from the resident sin her care.  Patti Marie Peterson pleaded guilty to check forgery, and admitted to stealing five blank checks from a nursing home resident and wrote them out to herself.  Peterson was convicted of transferring stolen property in 1996.   She was sentenced to only three years probation.

Peterson was employed at the Bayshore Health Center, an adult assisted living facility on Park Point. A 78-year-old man reported to another Bayshore employee in October that he was missing some checks. Peterson allegedly took a check from the man’s checkbook, wrote it out to herself in the amount of $700 and had the man sign it over as a loan to her. Peterson then wrote five more checks to herself totaling $3,050, forging the man’s signature.

As conditions of probation, Peterson must pay $3,750 in restitution to her victim, obtain a General Educational Development certificate, find employment or be enrolled in school and write an apology to her victim.

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The Buffalo News had an article about nursing home employees embezzling money that should have gone to the resident's care.   Mary Blenker is the second employee of the Absolut nursing and rehabilitation complex in Orchard Park to plead guilty to corporate embezzlement.

Blenker admitted to stealing $13,402 from the disbursement funds she managed for the company’s adult living community and its nursing home from January 2007 until 13 months ago.  Blenker pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny and misdemeanor attempted grand larceny for the thefts before a grand jury reviewed her case.

Blenker, a former administrative assistant for financial affairs at the nursing home complex, was forced to sign confessions of judgment and must make complete restitution.

Rhonda Skiver, Absolut’s former chief financial officer, faces sentencing on her Feb. 19 guilty plea to embezzling more than $163,000 between December 2005 and April 2009.

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There are some great people working at nursing homes, below are not stories about them:

WCAK.com had a story about Rhonda Skiver who pled guilty to grand larceny after embezzling more than $163,000 from an upstate New York nursing home where she worked as chief financial officer.  She was struggling to pay off gambling debts and costs from a failed marriage has admitted to stealing the funds for resident care from Absolut Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Orchard Park, where she had worked for 10 years.   Rhonda Skiver could face up to 15 years in prison at sentencing on May 17. Buffalo News also had an article on the arrest.

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SheboyganPress.com had a story about Ross H. Hoblitzell who was a nursing home activities director .  He was charged  after being captured on surveillance video stealing cash from the Plymouth Senior Center.  Hoblitzell could face up to seven and a half years in prison, if convicted on the count of felony burglary.

The manager of the senior center contacted police Monday morning after discovering money was missing from parking meter proceeds left in the senior center office. The manager also noticed a camera installed after a prior burglary had been moved.  The video showed Hoblitzell starting to remove the money, then noticing the camera and attempting to reposition it so he is not recorded. He then appears to try removing it, but fails, after which he picks up change from the floor and places it back in its container.  Hoblitzell admitted taking money for gas for his vehicle because he was having financial difficulties. He admitted taking money from the senior center in the past as well.  _______________________________________________________________________

St. Joe News had a story about Janet Sue Tinker who pled guilty to stealing prescription drugs from a nursing home for her son to sell. Tinker started working as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) for Carriage Square Health Care Center in November 2008. Around August of last year, she began pocketing medications.

Ms. Tinker took drugs home and left them on a table for her son Ryan O. Tinker, 20, according to her testimony.  The stealing went on for at least two months and included Ativan, Xanax, Lortab and morphine. A Crimestoppers tip led police to look into the family’s activities in September.

Ms. Tinker told Circuit Court Judge Pat Robb she never explicitly told her son to sell the drugs but left them for Mr. Tinker to find, knowing that would be the result. In a convoluted explanation, she said to the court, “There is a very unhealthy relationship between my son and I,” and added she hoped providing the drugs to her son would lead him to move out of her house on Safari Drive.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Mr. Robb told her when she maintained she never instructed her son to sell the drugs but it was an understanding.

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Coastal Courier had an article about another nursing home employee stealing from residents.  Demetria Denise Williams, an employee of Coastal Manor Long Term Care Facility, was arrested after Elise Stafford, the home’s chief long-term care officer, reported the center had information showing an employee had been stealing.   Williams was then taken to the police station where she was charged with theft by deception, theft by taking and exploitation of the elderly.
Williams has been charged with stealing more than $4,000 and that he anticipates as many as 25 more theft warrants.  Williams stole from residents by taking money for their families, but not depositing it into appropriate accounts.

Williams also stole from the facility by taking payment of services not provided to residents.
“The majority of the money that was stolen was from payment for services,” Stafford said. “There was a minimal amount taken from the residents.”
 

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Greenville News reported the story of a nursing home employee arrested for stealing money from a nursing home resident.  I wonder how many times employees have done this to incompetent and demented residents who can't speak up or no one will liten to or believe? 

The victim is an 88-year-old woman who lives at Oakmont Nursing home in Union.  She repeatedly noticed cash missing from her room. Only the woman and employees of the facility have keys to where she keeps her money.   The woman said she recently left money in a bank envelope inside a purse that she put in a drawer while she was out her room.   The next morning, she noticed $40 missing. The woman reported the incident to the supervisor, and then experimented by leaving two $5 bills in her purse in a drawer. Both bills ended up stolen during two different times when the woman was out of her room.  Police arrested Brenda Rochester on two counts each of second-degree burglary and petit larceny after comparing the times of the thefts with the work schedules of those who had access to the room.

There are approximately 17,000 residents in 174 nursing homes in South Carolina.  There are too few surveyors, ombudsman, and investigators to protect these residents from sexual predators, theiving nurses, and greedy corporate owners.  Something needs to be done.

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Atlanticville.com had an article about a piece of crap nursing home owner/operator who pleaded guilty to stealing $39,000 from one of his elderly residents.   Michael D. Berg pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree theft by deception.  The charge is the result of an investigation, conducted by the Prosecutor's Office following a referral from the New Jersey Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly.

Berg was the owner and operator of Wayside Retirement Center Inc., a nursing home located in the Wayside section of the township. From Jan. 1, 2005, through March 31, 2008, Berg received funds that belonged to a resident of the retirement center.  The funds came from the resident's pension and from other benefits. 

Berg ended up retaining more than $39,000 from the resident's funds that he wasn't entitled to for his own personal purposes.  Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office will recommend Berg get probation.  Incredible.  The guy steals from one of his residents and only he gets is probation.  That isn't much of a deterrent.

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