BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNSELOR CHARGED WITH ABUSING A VULNERABLE ADULT

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that charges were filed against Karen Ashimi, a former residential house counselor at a group home run by the Linwood Center in Columbia, Maryland. Ashimi, of the 2400 block of Bridgehampton Drive in Parkville, was charged by criminal information in the Circuit Court for Howard County with Second Degree Abuse of a Vulnerable Person, Second Degree Neglect of a Vulnerable Person and Second Degree Assault for an incident that occurred on March 10, 2006 where she was caring for a developmentally disabled man.

Second Degree Abuse and Neglect of a Vulnerable Person are both misdemeanors punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Second Degree Assault is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine. A criminal information is an accusation and all persons are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has the authority to prosecute abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults in Medicaid-funded facilities. The matter was referred to the Attorney General’s Office from the Maryland Disability Law Center.