Sedgwick Police say Said Mblima was charged in connection to an incident that occurred in November 2024. Mblima was charged with one count of mistreatment of a dependent adult while a resident of a care facility, a level two felony.
Mblima could face a prison sentence anywhere from 9 to41 years, and a $300,000 fine.
Story by Alicia Patton
Special agents with the TBI’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division said they began investigating 60-year-old Jill Black Turner in August 2024 following allegations of theft and financial exploitation of an elderly adult.
During the investigation, agents reportedly learned between July 2023 and July 2024, property and cash belonging to an elderly resident at a Murfreesboro care facility had been stolen. Officials added the victim’s checking account was also utilized for unauthorized purchases, and her name had been forged on a check.
According to the TBI, the investigation identified the suspect as a relative to the victim. On Jan. 6, 2025, the Rutherford County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Turner with one count each of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, theft of property $60,000 – $250,00, and criminal simulation.
Deputies with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office arrested Turner on Jan. 13. She is being held in the Rutherford County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
No additional details about the incident were immediately released.
Full Article & Source:
Lascassas woman accused of stealing from elderly adult at care facility
by Madeline Armstrong
The “care facility” - a house - did not have the proper staff, equipment or licensing necessary to care for the residents who lived there. The other two individuals - Joel Ombao and Nimfa Molina were sentenced earlier this year and late last year.
Ombao was sentenced in July 2024 to five years in state prison for six counts of elder abuse and Molina was sentenced to 122 days in Riverside County jail in October 2023 for one misdemeanor count of elder abuse. Now, Ronnel Tiburcio is the last to be sentenced and has been convicted of six counts of elder abuse likely to produce great bodily harm and death, all of which are felonies.
The victims were housed in Secure Hands Board and Care Facility, one of Ombao’s several hospice companies. Ombao, his assistant Tiburcio and the registered nurse Molina were responsible for operating the facility and caring for the residents living there.
The facility was investigated by the Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA), which investigates and prosecutes those responsible for abuse, neglect and fraud committed against elderly and dependent adults in the state in addition to those who perpetrate fraud in the Medi-Cal program, and the Riverside Police Department. DMFEA then prosecuted the case.
Attorney General Rob Bonta helped secure the convictions and sentencing.
“Individuals
entrusted with the care of elderly and dependent adults have the utmost
responsibility for their well-being and safety,” Bonta said. “At the
California Department of Justice, we will not tolerate any elder abuse
or neglect and ensure that any exploitation or harm is met with swift
accountability. I want to thank my team, along with the Riverside Police
Department, for bringing justice to these victims.”
Full Article & Source:
Man sentenced to seven years for abusing disabled, elderly residents at Riverside care facility
By: Clark Kauffman
According to newly released state inspection reports, the intruder – later identified by police as Michael James Beaver, 54, of West Branch – interacted with the staff at Crestview Specialty Care in West Branch on April 5 before being found in the resident’s bed.
During those hours, one of the workers expressed concern that Beaver appeared to be homeless. Another worker twice gave Beaver directions to the victim’s room, and one employee heard the woman crying out, “Help me” while being wheeled through the facility by Beaver.
Beaver has not been criminally charged, although he is currently facing a charge of indecent exposure for his alleged conduct in a public library two days before the incident at Crestview.
The nursing home’s owners, Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, did not respond to calls from the Iowa Capital Dispatch, but on May 9 issued a written statement that said the company “is committed to the health and safety of our residents and takes the April 5, 2023, incident at Crestview Specialty Care very seriously. We took immediate action to report the incident to the state and are working with state investigators to address the situation.”
The state inspectors’ reports provide a timeline of the events that occurred on April 5, according to the statements given to inspectors by the Crestview staff:
10:30 a.m.: A nurse aide saw a male stranger walking around the facility, appearing to look for someone.
11 a.m.: The aide saw the man pushing a female resident in her wheelchair and calling her “mom.” The resident — the same woman with whom Beaver would later be found in bed — was legally blind and was one of 26 residents at the home with cognitive issues.
11:30 a.m.: A second aide saw Beaver pushing the resident in her wheelchair. Beaver asked the aide where the resident’s room was and was told, “Down the hall, to the left and her name should be on the door.”
Noon: A third aide noticed the resident was at her table, eating lunch alone. Around that time, an aide approached the director of nursing and informed her there was a stranger who looked “a little dirty” sitting in a common area. The aide said the man had dirt on his face and clothing and, to her, appeared to be homeless. The director of nursing left her office, looked at the man later determined to be Beaver, and said he might be a family member of a resident.
12:30 p.m.: The aide who had contacted the director of nursing saw Beaver pushing the female resident in her wheelchair down a hallway, with the woman calling out, “Help me.” The aide said she thought nothing of it as the resident often said such things.
1 p.m.: At this point, and for some unspecified time afterward, the staff observed Beaver pushing the resident in her wheelchair throughout the facility. The aide who had previously given Beaver directions to the resident’s room saw him looking confused by the front door, so she gave him a reminder, saying, “Remember, I told you, her room is down the other way.”
2:40 p.m.: Two aides told the director of nursing “something weird” was going on in the resident’s room: A man is in bed with the resident, claiming to be “just cuddling” with her.
2:45 p.m.: The director of nursing and a registered nurse entered the resident’s room. The resident’s head was at the foot of the bed, Beaver was under the covers, but appeared to be shirtless with his pants pulled down. The resident’s one-piece jumpsuit was unzipped halfway in the back.
The director of nursing asked what was going on and Beaver replied that he was “just trying to help her sleep.” The director of nursing asked him why he wasn’t dressed, Beaver said he had his clothes on. The director of nursing replied, “Having pants around your ankles in not having clothes on.”
The staff removed Beaver from the resident’s bed at which point he zipped up his jacket and attempted to leave, saying, “I will get out of the way.” The director of nursing replied, “No, you will stay until the police come,” and the staff escorted him to the lobby.
Beaver initially told the staff he was a distant relative of the resident. Later, he reportedly said he was not related to her but had known her about 20 years prior. The resident’s nephew reported he had never heard of Beaver, but declined to have the resident sent to a hospital for an assessment.
The resident said nothing at the time but was reported to be anxious and tearful. When questioned a short time later, she had no recollection of the incident.
The police, who had picked up Beaver earlier in the day and dropped him off at a trailer park, took him to a local hospital for psychiatric commitment and evaluation.
The incident resulted in “possible distress for the resident,” state inspectors concluded, while noting that a physical assessment conducted at Crestview resulted in “no findings that the resident had been assaulted.”
The facility “took all precautions necessary to mitigate another similar incident of this type,” according to state inspectors. The home had placed residents in immediate jeopardy, the inspectors concluded, but they lowered the scope and severity of the violation after concluding the staff had immediately corrected the problem by locking the doors to the facility, educating the staff, creating a visitor’s log, and installing a doorbell at the front entrance for visitors to gain entry.
Prior to those changes, visitors had only to push a button near the front door to enter the building.
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals imposed and immediately suspended two $6,500 fines against Crestview – one for failing to protect residents from abuse and one for failing to keep residents safe. With the state fines suspended, the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services will consider what federal penalties, if any, will be imposed.
Court records show that two days before the incident at Crestview, Beaver was arrested and charged with indecent exposure at the Iowa City Public Library. According to the arrest report, video evidence showed Beaver entering the library, going to the computers on the second floor, taking off his sweatshirt and pants, placing a jacket over his genitals, and then spending four hours watching pornographic videos while reaching under his jacket and stimulating himself.
The day after he was arrested, he was released from jail on his own
recognizance. District Associate Judge Jason A. Burns released Beaver on
the condition that he not return to the library. The indecent exposure
case is still pending.
Full Article & Source:
State: Intruder was in care facility four hours before entering resident’s bed
by Lauren Leamanczyk, Steve Eckert
PLYMOUTH, Minnesota — There’s been a 20% drop in complaints about maltreatment in Minnesota’s Long Term Care facilities as families were locked out during the COVID-19 crisis. But some families say it was only because they weren’t there to see the neglect.
June Linnertz says she went to visit her dad Jim Gill on March 19th
at Cherrywood Pointe of Plymouth. A photo from that day shows him
outside, neatly dressed and smiling as he stood next to a bird feeder.
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Linnertz visited regularly, helping with some of her dad’s care. But that March day she says she was told to leave. The facility, like others, was closing its doors to outsiders because of COVID 19.
“I got all the verbal assurances in the world, ‘Don’t worry, we got it’,” she said.
Linnertz says she could call her dad on his cell phone, but the staff wouldn’t facilitate video chats. Her dad couldn’t do that on his own.
In phone calls, she says he didn’t understand why his kids hadn’t come to visit and why he was confined to his room for so much of the day.
“He was confused. He thought he maybe did something wrong,” she said.
Several months later she said she came by to try to see her dad through the window and was shocked by his appearance.
“He had lost a ton of weight, completely disheveled. He had grown facial hair. Had crust on the corner of his lips,” she said of her once neatly dressed dad. “I was nauseated. I was so sad”
On June 7th, Linnertz took a photo through the window. Her dad slumped over in a wheelchair. His hair untrimmed and unkempt. His shirt was dirty.
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By this time, Jim Gill was receiving hospice care – and Linnertz wanted to bring him home.
But nothing prepared Linnertz, who works as a death investigator, for what she says she saw when she finally had access to see him in person.
“My dad is lying face down in the mattress and pillow … he is shaking and he is just saturated with perspiration,” she described to KARE 11. Care notes from his hospice agency document the sweat soaked sheets.
Linnertz also found her dad bruised and in pain. Care notes show he’d fallen unattended at least six times in less than two weeks. An aide wrote “bruises from previous falls are now appearing.”
Linnertz says she and a hospice nurse tried to flip Jim over into a more comfortable position. “He immediately started wailing out in pain.”
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“They cut his diaper off and that’s when they called me over and said you’ve got to see this,” Linnertz said. “His genitalia was bright red and the skin was sloughing off already.”
A healthcare worker who saw the scene spoke with KARE 11 and confirmed Linnertz’s account, describing Jim’s treatment as “severe neglect”.
The Minnesota Department of Health is investigating.
Ebenezer, the company that owns Cherrywood Pointe, denies allegations of neglect. They sent the following statement to KARE 11:
We take suggestion of neglect very seriously and remain committed to providing safe and compassionate care to every resident we serve. Recent inspections by regulators found our facility in compliance with applicable local, state and federal laws. While privacy laws prevent us from commenting on specific cases or situations, all concerns brought to our attention by staff or family members are immediately reviewed and acted upon, if necessary. Our employees are required by law to report issues involving substandard care or neglect. We constantly look for ways to improve our procedures, and we take additional actions as circumstances warrant.
So, what happened in that three months Linnertz was locked out?
“I think it comes down to the isolation, the loneliness and ultimately I figured out – the neglect,” she said.
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“It came from a goodwill of protecting residents. But then it spilled over into people dying out of neglect, dying out of loneliness in excruciating emotional and physical pain,” Caspi said.
KARE 11 reviewed data from the Minnesota Department of Health showing a 20% decline over last year in maltreatment reports during the long-term care lockdown.
But the ombudsman’s office was flooded with calls.
“We have seen significant weight loss and other decline in some people in long term care,” Deputy Ombudsman Aisha Elmquist said.
Health officials didn’t open up facilities for approved love ones to visit until August – five months into the pandemic. As part of the Essential Caregiver program, some families, friends and loved ones can now visit in person with approval of the facility.
Leading Age, an industry group, says 68% of senior care residences have implemented that Essential Caregiver program. But, so far, their survey shows just 1 in 4 families is currently signed up.
“Our members are - join families about being concerned about the impacts of prolonged social isolation,” said Kari Thurlow of Leading Age.
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“The idea of outdoor visits should have been introduced much earlier,” Caspi said.
Thurlow agrees isolation is not a sustainable plan. But she says many things need to happen before long term care facilities are open to all families.
“We cannot go to business as usual with regard to visitation until one of two things happens. Either we have widespread vaccine use which we know is some time away from now. Or widespread access to accurate, rapid testing which we also don’t have at this time,” she said.
“You cannot leave people abandoned,” Linnertz said. She fears what fall will bring, with the pandemic still raging, cold weather making outdoor visits more difficult and some facilities still locked down.
But she no longer worries for her dad. Jim Gill died at her home days after leaving Cherrywood Pointe.
“Do I think my dad would still be alive right now? Yes. Would he still by declining because of the Lewy Body? Absolutely. But not maltreatment. Because guess what I would have been in there. I was his advocate,” she said.
The Minnesota Department of Health is now doing more onsite
investigations, especially in the most serious cases. Linnertz has not
heard back about their findings in her dad’s case.
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| The Leo Kanner Center of the Devereux Foundation at 1060 Boot Road in West Whiteland. |
