ASSISTED LIVING MANAGER SENTENCED FOR BLINDING A VULNERABLE ADULT

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Theresa Jackson, a former employee of Myra’s Assisted Living facility located at 2620 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore City was sentenced to 10 years, suspend all but two years, to the Division of Corrections. Jackson was sentenced for punching an autistic man who was in her care in the eye, causing him to become blind in that eye. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John M. Glynn also ordered that Jackson serve three years of supervised probation following her release from incarceration. Jackson’s sentence is the result of her guilty plea on February 16 to first degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, which is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years. Although Jackson was originally scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, she failed to appear on that date and the court issued a bench warrant for her arrest. She was arrested at her home on June 17 by the Maryland State Police and held without bail until today’s sentencing.

Jackson, 53, of the 1000 block of Brantley Avenue in Baltimore, was employed as an assisted living manager at the facility for approximately six months when the incident occurred on January 8, 2004. The victim is a 63 year-old man who suffers from autism, obsessive compulsive disorder and other medical ailments. The victim was merely seated at the kitchen table when Jackson punched him in his left eye with such force that the victim suffered a ruptured globe. Jackson claimed that the victim’s kitten scratched him and caused the injury. Surgery was performed at University of Maryland for a ruptured globe caused by blunt force trauma. Jackson was immediately terminated from her employment at the time of the incident.

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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