For
Immediate Release
July 10, 2003 |
Contact:
Sean Caine, 410-576-6357
scaine@oag.state.md.us
|
FORMER
COUNSELOR CHARGED WITH NEGLECT,
RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT
J.
Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a former residential counselor
at Creative Options, Inc. was charged with three counts of neglect
of a vulnerable adult and three counts of reckless endangerment
for an incident that occurred in July 2002 when he left three developmentally
disabled adults who were in his care unattended for almost 12 hours.
Joel
William Owitti, 27, of Teakwood Court in Baltimore was charged with
three counts of reckless endangerment and three counts of neglect
of a vulnerable adult. Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor carrying
a maximum of five years in jail and/or a fine of $5,000.00. Intentional
neglect of a vulnerable adult is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum
of five years in jail and/or a fine of $10,000.00.
A criminal
information is an accusation, and all persons are presumed innocent
unless proven guilty.
This
case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud
Control Unit, which has authority to prosecute abuse or neglect
of vulnerable persons in facilities that receive Medicaid funds.
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