County detectives on Wednesday filed charged against Leah C. Ilgenfritz, 79.
The situation was reported in July to the
Westmoreland County Elder Abuse Task Force when the victim, who is in
his 60s, was seen wandering around the New Stanton area. Police said the
victim has schizophrenia and a diabetic condition.
When county officials investigating the July
6 report found the victim at a convenience store near New Stanton, he
was talking to himself, dressed in dirty clothing and appeared
undernourished. A doctor who evaluated him during an involuntary mental
health commitment told investigators the victim was “at risk of serious
bodily injury or death” if his conditions went untreated, police said in
an affidavit.
Ilgenfritz told police she began in May the
process of evicting the man from her Park Avenue facility, where he had
been treated since 2015, after he began neglecting his medication and
causing problems.
“Ilgenfritz stated that when (the man’s)
erratic behavior didn’t change, she advised him that she would be
evicting him from the facility,” Detective Ray Dupilka wrote in the
complaint.
She paid to lodge him for three nights at
the Budget Inn Motel in New Stanton about 9 miles away and dropped his
belongings and medication off there, police reported.
He refused to get in her vehicle and left
the personal care home on foot. Dupilka said the victim never checked in
to the hotel, instead wandering around the area for a few days.
“Ilgenfritz confirmed that after (the
victim) left her facility, she didn’t know if he ever made it to the
hotel or received his requisite medication,” Dupilka wrote in the
complaint.
When reached Thursday, Ilgenfritz said the victim had overstayed a 30-day notice to leave her facility.
“I never put him out,” she said. “He kept packing his bags and saying he was going to a hotel.”
“There’s a lot more to it than what they’re saying,” she said.
The personal care home, registered as Leah’s
Victorian Cottage with the state, has a capacity of 30 patients. It was
last inspected in July.
Full Article & Source:
Owner of Scottdale care home accused of endangering Vietnam veteran she evicted
1 comment:
Has this been happening for years or is this practice relatively new? More and more of these type of cases are surfacing in the media.
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