CAREGIVER PLEADS GUILTY TO LEAVING VULNERABLE ADULT
ALONE IN VAN FOR 30 MINUTES

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that former caregiver Nancy Wambi Kimani Dewitt pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a vulnerable adult relating to an incident where she left a developmentally disabled woman who was in her care alone in a van for more than 30 minutes while Dewitt went food shopping.

Baltimore County District Court Judge Darryl G. Fletcher sentenced Dewitt to three years incarceration in the Baltimore County Detention Center, suspending all but two weekends. Judge Fletcher placed Dewitt on three years probation and ordered that Dewitt not provide direct care to a vulnerable adult for three years. He also ordered Dewitt to perform 60 hours of community service.

Dewitt, 49, of the 1300 block of Highland Drive in Baltimore was a Support Specialist for the Association for Retarded Citizens of Baltimore County. On May 30, 2006, Dewitt took Elaine G., a 60-year old severely mentally retarded client who is wheelchair-bound, to the Shoppers Food Warehouse located in the 800 block of Goucher Boulevard. Rather than take Elaine G. into the food store with her, Dewitt left Elaine G. in the van with the doors locked. One window was open about 4 inches. The temperature on that day was in the 90’ s. An off-duty State Trooper saw Elaine in the van and called for paramedics. When the State Trooper saw Elaine G. in the van, she was screaming, her face was beet red, and she was sweating profusely. When Ms. Dewitt returned to the van, she lied about how long and why she had been gone, and showed very little concern for the welfare of her client.

This case was prosecuted by Attorney General Curran’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has authority to prosecute cases of abuse and neglect in Medicaid-funded facilities.