FORMER OWNER OF ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSE OF A DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED MAN

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Thomas C. Williams, a former owner of an unlicenced assisted living facility called Keeper of the Bretheren Homes, located in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty to one count of abuse of a vulnerable adult for repeatedly punching a developmentally disabled man who was in his care in the face. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Christian M. Kahl imposed a suspended sentence and placed Williams on 18 months probation.

Williams, 37, of the 1100 block of Bonaparte Avenue in Baltimore, owned Keeper of the Bretheren Homes located at 808 Painted Post Court in Baltimore County. According to the Statement of Facts, on December 17, 2003, Williams called the police claiming that a resident of his assisted living facility had assaulted him. The 28 year old resident had been residing at the Painted Post Court address since November 2003 and is moderately mentally retarded, suffers from schizophrenia, depression and is bi-polar.

When the police officer arrived at 808 Painted Post Court, Williams began to explain to the police officer what had occurred. The resident was sitting in the room on a couch and told Williams that he was a liar. Williams then walked over to the resident, and in front of the police officer, began to repeatedly punch the resident in the face. The officer tried to break up the fight, and was only able to separate the two by using his chemical spray. The resident was not injured in the melee.

Attorney General Curran’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had previously prosecuted Williams in March of this year for leaving two developmentally disabled men who were in his care, alone and unsupervised for almost four hours during a record-setting blizzard in February of 2003. Williams served 8 months in the Baltimore County Detention Center for neglecting those vulnerable adults.

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 and assisted living units.

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