FORMER GROUP HOME CARE GIVER CHARGED WITH
NEGLECT, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a former house manager at a group home for developmentally disabled individuals, Thomas C. Williams, has been charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult and reckless endangerment in connection with a February 18, 2003 incident in which he left two severely retarded adults alone and unsupervised for almost four hours.

Williams, 36, of the 1100 block of Bonaparte Avenue, Baltimore, was employed by Creative Options, Inc., which operated a group home in Baltimore County. He was charged by Criminal Information with two counts of criminal neglect and two 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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