CURRAN CHARGES FORMER CHIMES EMPLOYEE
WITH RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a former job coach at a facility for developmentally disabled individuals, Glenn Dennis, has been charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult and reckless endangerment in connection with a December 16, 2002 incident in which he left three developmentally disabled adults alone and unsupervised.

Dennis, 51, of the 1200 block of Brigadoon Trail, Baltimore, was employed by The Chimes, Inc., which operates a number of programs throughout Maryland. He was charged by Criminal Information with three counts of criminal neglect and three counts of reckless endangerment.

Intentional neglect and abuse of vulnerable adults by a care giver is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine. Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor punishable by not more than five years in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. A criminal information is an accusation and all persons are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has authority to prosecute abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults in Medicaid-funded facilities.

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