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

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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Here are some articles on some of the types of people who are employed at nursing homes:

The Seatttle Times had an article about three employees of a nursing home being fired after nude photographs of residents were taken and shared with strangers.  Three employees of Kitsap Health & Rehabilitation Center have been fired amid allegations that they took nude cellphone pictures of residents.  Staff members said in written statements that the suspects had shown the pictures to other staff members as a joke some weeks ago.  The pictures were taken around Christmas, the suspect said. He said he has deleted all photos of residents.  Witnesses also reported seeing other photographs.

One suspect, a 41-year-old Retsil resident who is a licensed practical nurse, told Bremerton police he and the two other suspects had sent "funny" pictures of residents to each other but denied having taken inappropriate photos.

The suspect said someone — he said he didn't know who — had sent him a photo of a resident of unknown gender bending over, with naked buttocks showing. He reported deleting the image and telling the other two suspects not to send any more cellphone pictures of residents.

The other suspects are women, ages 26 and 27, both nurse aides from Bremerton. All three employees at first were suspended and later fired. The three have been reported to a medical panel for review of alleged violations.  See more information at King5 here.
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WOKV.com  had a story about  Sharon Kaiser who was accused of stealing from people in a nursing home.   She is charged with grand theft, exploiting the elderly, suspicion of fraudulent use of credit cards, petit theft,  bank fraud, and fraudulent use of personal identification information.. Police say the woman was stealing blank checks from the residents and then giving them to other people to be cashed.

Kaiser worked at the Cypress Village retirement community.  "We were assured by Dr. Felix that it was a safe environment, that all employees had a background check," said Jack Slaughter, whose mother was a resident. He said she lost thousands in jewelry.

The police reports said one elderly resident reported that someone stole a $5,000, a 14-karat charm bracelet, and a $2,500 ring from her. Another victim reported having a $1,600 necklace and an $1,800 gold chain swiped.

Some victims in the report said this problem is widespread. In the one report, a victim claims "there has been around 90 items stolen from different patients from Cypress Village." Police arrested Kaiser after police reported linking jewelry found at pawn shops to her.

"We went to the authorities at Cypress Village and informed them of what my mom was telling us, and we were led to believe that it could be paranoia brought on by her Alzheimer's disease," Slaughter said.  See News4Jax for more information.
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KTVB.com had a story about Eric Machigashira who is accused of stealing narcotic pain medication from resdients of the nursing home where he worked. They say management provided evidence that he had been taking morphine and other drugs from nursing home patients and from the home's emergency supplies over a period of several months.

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My hometown paper the Spartanburg Herald had an article about the Mountainview nursing home employee arrested for taking more than $32,000 from a patient trust account charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult.  Jenny Denise Birch was released on $10,000 bond after spending a little less than three hours in the Spartanburg County jail.

An arrest warrant obtained by the Attorney General's Office accuses Birch of making "unlawful, unauthorized or improper use of the funds" from Mountainview Nursing Home's Bank of America patient trust account between Nov. 3, 2008, and Nov. 27, 2009.

Mountainview Nursing Home's Web site indicates Birch had worked there since 2004. Wilson Dillard, the adminstrator of the nursing home, said that Birch formerly worked in the facility's business office.  Dillard said the facility became aware of "problems associated with (Birch's) work" and contacted the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud division to begin an investigation.

The arrest warrant accuses Birch of making "electronic transfers of received cash from the patient trust account in the amount of $32,413.42 for her personal benefit." It also states that the funds belonged to vulnerable adults who were living at the facility.

Upon discovery of the problem, Dillard said the facility completely routed that amount of money to the patient accounts and that no patients had been adversely affected. Dillard said the facility will "pursue whatever avenues" exist to reclaim the funds.

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The Hartford Courant had an article about another greedy nursing home CEO. The former chief executive of a now defunct nursing home chain pleaded guilty to federal charges that he improperly used money intended for the homes to buy real estate.   Raymond Termini pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and engaging in unlawful monetary transaction.

Termini stole a $6 million loan for private business transactions, and up to $2 million for sprinklers at the nursing homes instead to buy real estate and other purposes.  Termini was CEO of Middletown-based Haven Healthcare, one of the state's largest nursing home chains before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007, operating 27 facilities in five states, including 15 in Connecticut.  Termini agreed to forfeit $500,000.  So he steals millions but he "agreed" to pay a measly half a million. 

"Mr. Termini admitted he made some errors," Keefe said. "Otherwise he did a lot of good for a lot of people in that industry."

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The Providence Journal had an article about the federal government seeking more than $12 million from former nursing home executive Antonio L. Giordano and his associates, claiming they enriched themselves by diverting millions of dollars from nursing homes as the homes slipped into debt, in violation of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The government, on behalf of HUD, accuses Giordano; his longtime chief financial officer John J. Montecalvo; Pasquale V. Confreda, a general partner with Coventry Health Center Associates, and Coventry Health Center Associates itself of illegally channeling money from two nursing homes to themselves and businesses that included two consulting firms, one owned by Giordano’s daughter and the other by his son.

The nursing homes — Mount St. Francis Health Center, in Woonsocket, and the Coventry Health Center — were backed by HUD-insured financing and later went into receivership. Those named in the suit were barred from transferring money or property belonging to the nursing homes while the homes were not financially solvent under the terms of the HUD mortgage insurance.

Giordano and Montecalvo oversaw the management of both nursing homes. Confreda was a general partner of Coventry Health Associates, which owned the 344-bed Coventry Health Center.

The suit filed in September in U.S. District Court says Montecalvo and Giordano misused $4.2 million in Mount St. Francis funds in violation of the HUD agreement reached when the parties secured an $8.6-million HUD-insured mortgage. The government by law is allowed to seek double the amount that was allegedly misspent, or $8.5 million, including legal fees.

Giordano, Montecalvo, Confreda and CHC Associates are accused of diverting another $1.8 million from Coventry Health Center, equaling $3.6 million, with legal fees. In that case the parties secured a $15.3-million HUD-insured mortgage after refinancing.

The case grew from an audit done by the Office of the Inspector General of the nursing homes’ operations from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2003, the suit says. According to the suit, $958,675 associated with the 194-bed Mount St. Francis was disbursed in violation of the HUD agreement.

The largest sums included $224,720 paid to a consulting firm run by Giordano’s son, Antonio A. Giordano, and $272,200 to a firm led by his daughter, Mary D. Gentili. Another $104,520 went to the now-closed Hillside Health Center that Montecalvo managed as well as $109,000 to the Sterling Health Care Management Co., where Montecalvo acted as general manager.

In addition, according to the suit, Giordano and Sterling, under Montecalvo, received $1.4 million each in management and partnership fees that violated the agreement.

The suit claims $1.4 million in funds related to the Coventry Health Center were diverted to eight entities in violation of the HUD agreement. The largest sums in that batch included $250,000 that went to Management Realty Service, a Rhode Island company where Giordano’s daughter served as president, and $267,000 that went to the consulting firm she led. Another $425,816 went to Sterling, the suit says.

Giordano and Montecalvo pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal charges that they misused money from the two homes and from the now-closed Hillside Health Center in Providence. Giordano was sentenced to 2½ years in prison and Montecalvo to 2 years.

They later admitted to embezzlement and conspiracy charges in state court, where they agreed to pay about $1.1 million in fines and restitution but avoided additional jail time.  Giordano and Confreda were also named as major delinquent borrowers in the state’s credit-union crisis of the early 1990s. In 2005, the state agreed to accept a $3-million payment to settle the debts left over from the banking crisis. The deal, approved by the DEPCO Asset Review Committee, cancels out more than $10 million in delinquent loans Giordano and his business partners owed Rhode Island taxpayers.

They be placed under the jail.

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There seems to be an increase of nursing home employees abusing, neglecting, stealing, or otherwise taking advantage of the vulnerable residents in their care.  Below are just some of the stories from the past few weeks:

RocNow by Democrat and Chronicle had a story about a CNA who is accused of stealing a credit card from a nursing home patient and then submitting a forged application for public benefits to Monroe County.   Latoya Harding, 28, employed at the Blossom South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, was arraigned on several charges including fourth-degree grand larceny, offering a false instrument for filing, both class E felonies, and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class D felony.

After Harding was fired from Blossom South because of the theft allegation, she allegedly applied for unemployment benefits. Harding allegedly submitted an application with a forged signature of a Blossom South employee and falsely claimed that she was laid off from Blossom South.   Harding is also accused of stealing a credit card from a 90-year-old patient suffering from dementia to pay her own cable, cell phone and utility bills. She also allegedly purchased items from Wal-Mart and made several cash withdrawals.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Woodtv.com had an article discussing the jail sentence of Michael James White.  He will only spend six months in jail for sexually molesting an 84-year-old resident of a nursing home. The woman is mentally and physically incapicitated.  White admitted to one count of criminal sexual conduct in the 4th degree.  The incident took place this past summer at Metron of Lamont.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star-Ledger had an article about a nursing home employee arrested on charges he stole about $48,000 by forging employee paychecks, including those of mentally-challenged individuals who worked at the home.  Roel Lopez was responsible for distributing paychecks to mentally-challenged employees. An investigation found that Lopez kept employee paychecks and deposited them into his own account. Lopez also had phantom employees on the payroll, said the release. The thefts occurred over an approximately four-year period.  Lopez was charged with theft by deception and forgery. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Advertiser had an article about another nursing home employee accused of cashing an elderly woman's check at a Lafayette store.  She was arrested and booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.   Brandy Nicole Wilkins was charged with exploitation of the infirm and 11 counts of money laundering/transactions involving proceeds of criminal activity.

Wilkins, a former employee of Golden Age of Welsh Nursing Home in Welsh, is the second person arrested in connection with the incident. Vercey Lawdins, 26, was arrested on Oct. 13 on the same charges as Wilkins.  Lawdins is accused of stealing a $6,050 check from an elderly resident of the nursing home.  She and Wilkins then allegedly cashed the check at a Lafayette Wal-Mart store and used the money to buy 11 $550 gift cards, Gerdes said.

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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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I am disgusted by all the stories regarding nursing home employees stealing, abusing, or taking advantage of the vulnerable adults under their care.  Here is just a couple of recent articles which shows the type of staffing that for profit corporations use to staff their facilities:

A man whose wife was being abused by nursing home staff hid a video camera in her room, capturing two unprovoked attacks by a worker. Detectives used that evidence Wednesday to file first-degree felony abuse charges against nurse aide Johnetta Dashaw Phillips, a worker at Castle Pines Retirement Home.  The police report stated the wife, who was paralyzed by a stroke years ago and also has dementia, has lived at the home for the past three years. Several months ago the husband said his wife told him she was being abused. An internal investigation at the nursing home was conducted and later closed because his wife was unable to identify her abuser. The husband told police he decided to set up a video camera in his wife's room, which caught two separate incidents on tape.  During one incident in June, Phillips allegedly forced the wife out of her wheelchair, striking her three times on the arm before slinging her onto her bed. The force of the incident caused the wife to hit her head on the headboard. During another incident recorded in July, Phillips allegedly picked up a doll the wife had in her lap and struck the wife with it in her chest. The nurse aid then wheeled the wife to her bed and "roughly" placed her in it, causing her to hit her head on the headboard.  See article here.

The Galax Department of Social Services received an anonymous complaint that employees of Waddell Nursing and Rehabilitation had taken photos of patients without their consent. The photographs were described as pornographic.  Sharon Ann Walker of Fries was charged with two counts of knowingly and intentionally videotaping or photographing a non-consenting person who was 18 years of age or older when such person was nude or in a state of undress without the person permission. Walker allegedly shared the pictures with other people.  Chief Clark says the crime involved more than one patient at the nursing home and is believed to have happened between April 1, 2009 and July 15, 2009.  See article here.

Wiynnona Nelson was indicted today on charges that she took $4,000 from a resident of the Arlington Heights nursing home where she worked.  She was charged with financial exploitation of the elderly and aggravated identification theft.   $4,008 had been withdrawn electronically from the woman's bank account over a period of several months. Police tracked the thefts to Nelson, who had worked at the Moorings nursing home until December.   See article here.

Douglas A. Harris has been arrested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for allegedly exploiting a dependent resident of Brookhaven Manor.  Harris was employed as a social work director for the nursing home.  Harris is accused of unlawfully obtaining a $20,000 check, additional money in cash, and an Econoline van from a resident.   A statement from a TBI spokesman reads, "Harris was employed as the director of social work at Brookhaven nursing home located in Kingsport Tennessee when he obtained property and cash from a resident of the facility who was incapable of making financial decisions."  See article here.

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Montana's News Station had an article about a nursing home employee accused and charged with elder abuse, six felony counts of possession of dangerous drugs and six counts of misdemeanor theft.  Just the type of person who should be working in a facility full of vulnerable adults.

Keiko Douglas is accused of taking prescription medication from a resident of Park Place Health Care Center.   Douglas admitted to police that she removed a prescription medication patch from a resident's arm. It happened six times since June 27th.

Despite increasing the number of checks on the patient, nurses noticed her patch continued to disappear. Douglas was seen leaving the patient's room yesterday morning and the patch was again missing.  The nursing director said that as a laundry worker, Douglas had no reason to be in the room.

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