Nursing Assistant Charged with Abuse and Assault
of Vulnerable Adult

BALTIMORE, MD (October 10, 2007) - Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Naimah Tarze Butler, 24, of the 1700 block of Ryewood Road in Baltimore was charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult and second degree assault. Butler, a former geriatric nursing assistant at Genesis Healthcare Hamilton Center, is accused of assaulting a nursing home resident who was in her care.

Abuse of a vulnerable adult is a misdemeanor punishable by five years in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. Second degree assault is also a misdemeanor, punishable by 20 years imprisonment and/or a $2,500 fine. A criminal charge is merely an accusation of wrongdoing and the defendant is presumed innocent unless the State proves her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Trial is scheduled on November 13 in the District Court of Maryland Baltimore City.

This case is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit based on a referral from the Office of Health Care Quality.