FREDERICK COUNTY CAREGIVER FOUND GUILTY OF
NEGLECT OF A VULNERABLE ADULT

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Ever A. Delcid, a former house counselor at United Cerebral Palsy of Frederick was found guilty of neglect of a vulnerable adult for leaving three developmentally disabled men alone and unattended on two separate evenings while Delcid went to work at another job.

Frederick County District Court Judge Janice Rodnick Ambrose sentenced Delcid to three years incarceration, suspended, and placed Delcid on two years probation, one year supervised, one year unsupervised. The Judge also ordered that Delcid perform 80 hours community service, pay a $1,000.00 fine, suspending $499.50 of the fine, and ordered that Delcid not provide direct hands-on-care to a vulnerable adult for a period of three years.

According to the statement of facts, on September 19 and 20, 2005, Delcid, 20, of the 2100 block of Collingwood Lane in Frederick, Maryland was paid to provide care to three developmentally disabled men who also suffer from Cerebral Palsy as well as other medical issues. The three men resided in the 6200 block of Fairfax Court in Frederick. Each man required 24 hour awake-overnight supervision. On September 19 and 20, the awake overnight caregiver arrived early for his shift and found that Delcid was not present. On both evenings, the awake over-night care giver found the three men unharmed in their beds. The caregiver reported Delcid’s absence after the second incident. Investigation revealed that Delcid had left the home on both evenings almost two hours prior to the end of his shift to go to a second job conducting telephone surveys from a call center located more than 6 miles away from the home.

The case was prosecuted by Attorney General Curran’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has authority to investigate and prosecute abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults in facilities that receive Medicaid funds.