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

David Krough wrote, for Portland's kgw.com, an article stating that a nurse assistant at a nursing home was arrested for stealing narcotics from residents in other nursing homes.  Nursing assistants provide about 85-90 percent of all the care to residents.

The article is informative but does not provide key information such as prior arrests, employment history, knowledge of the mangement of the nursing homes regarding the missing narcotics or her conduct.  How could she get hired?  Was she a user or a pusher?  What safeguards do they hav ein place to make sure this doesn't happen?  Below is a summary of the article.

Surveillance cameras caught a woman on camera, posing as a resident's granddaughter, then as an employee. Administrators there said the woman snuck in and spent at least three evenings with one of their residents.

Theresa Smith was a nursing assistant who worked at nursing homes in the Portland Metro area.  Police listed Smith as a person of interest after a report of theft of Fentanyl patches at the Laurelhurst Village Nursing Home on SW Stark Street.  She was accused of stealing Fentanyl pain patches from nursing home residents while the residents were wearing the patches. Detectives said she stole from several patients at area nursing homes.

Detectives arrested Smith Wednesday while she was working at the Care Center East Nursing Home on NE Wielder Street.  Smith was charged with burglary, criminal mistreatment, possession of a controlled substance and theft. Police said she may face more charges.
 

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Pearce Adams wrote an article for the Independent Anderson Mail about an administrator of an assisted living facility stealing from his residents.  He was arrested on Wednesday and charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Robert Dunmoyer, 57, was allowed to post a $25,000 bond in Anderson Municipal Court the attorney general's office made the recommendation, citing Robert Dunmoyer's "cooperation" with the investigation.   Dunmoyer, former administrator with the Magnolia Residential Care center in Anderson, tricked a 75-year-old resident to give Dunmoyer power of attorney for the man. That step gave Dunmoyer legal authority to handle the man's bank accounts and investments.

Supposedly, Dunmoyer took responsibility for his actions after he got caught.  He made excuses for his behavior stating that he was having personal problems from a divorce that “created the state of mind” that allowed him to steal and take advantage of his resident. 

Dunmoyer had taken “approximately $100,000 from (the elderly man's) account with them,” and charged the man $9,500 to handle his stocks, the report states.

Ken Moore, representing the state unit that investigates nursing home and assisted living home crimes, testified that between July 2007 and April, Dunmoyer withdrew $60,000 without the consent of the elderly man.

The discrepancy between the amount mentioned in court and that listed in the incident report was not addressed. Moore said Dunmoyer “told us what he did and why he did it” and was cooperating with authorities.

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KPTV.com has a video and story showing a nursing home worker stealing from the residents.   A worker at an assisted living center was arrested and charged with theft after she was caught on camera stealing from patients, police said.

Deputies arrested the woman at the Regency Park Assisted Living Center.   The Washington County Sheriff's Office received multiple reports of thefts going on at the center, so they set up a hidden camera to try and catch the thief.  Police set up a hidden camera and plant a purse with money in it in order to catch the thief.   Three days after setting up the camera, Quanecka Thompson, 23, was caught on camera going through the purse, pulling out the wallet, taking money, putting it in her pocket and leaving the room, police said.

Detectives said they set up the purse a second time, and again, Thompson was witnessed stealing money from it.   Deputies arrested Thompson last week.

I wonder if they did a background check on this nurse?

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Woman admits stealing from Hyde Park nursing home January 14, 2008  See full article here.

A former employee of a nursing home faces prison after admitting in court today she stole more than $8,000 from a resident of the home.  Melissa Johnson acknowledged she had stolen the money by using the woman’s debit card between February and August 2006. 

Johnson had been placed on probation in May of 2006 on an unrelated conviction on a felony forgery charge. She admitted today she had violated the terms of her probationary sentence by carrying out the thefts from the woman at the nursing home.

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