CAREGIVER PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSE OF A
VULNERABLE ADULT

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced that Rhonda McClary, 44, a former care giver at a group home for developmentally disabled individuals run by the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, pleaded guilty to one count of abuse of a vulnerable adult in the second degree in the District Court for Baltimore County. Judge Mimi Raffel Cooper, a Harford County District Court Judge sitting by designation in Baltimore County, sentenced McClary to incarceration for six months which was suspended and three years of supervised probation. As special conditions of probation McClary will not be permitted to care for individuals who are developmentally disabled during the period of her probation and she must write an obituary of the victim as if the victim had died as a result of McClary’s abuse.

According to the statement of facts read into the record, McClary was the only caregiver at the group home, located at 1143 Brigadoon Trail in Baltimore County, when the incident occurred. She admitted to becoming angry with the victim because she refused to do as she was told. When the victim refused to go up the stairs to take a bath, McClary admitted to pushing her into the stair railing which caused a large bruise on the victim. The bruise was discovered two days later when the victim appeared in distress at her day care program.

The case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General’s Office. That Unit investigates and prosecutes Medicaid fraud and abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults in facilities that receive Medicaid funding.