Eastern Shore Caregiver Convicted of Neglect of Vulnerable Adult

BALTIMORE, MD (October 21, 2008) - Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Renald Nelo Orneus, 21, a former caregiver at Bayshore Services, Inc. pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a vulnerable adult for leaving a severely mentally disabled man alone and unattended for almost nine hours while Orneus went to visit with friends.

Wicomico County Circuit Court Judge W. Newton Jackson, III sentenced Orneus to six months in the Wicomico County Detention Center, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. Orneus, of the 700 block of Division Street in Salisbury, was a paid caregiver at a group home located in the 4700 block of Meadowlark Drive in Salisbury, and run by Bayshore Services Inc. Orneus was assigned to work at the Meadowlark Drive address as an overnight caregiver from 3:00 p.m. on September 5, 2007 until 8:00 a.m. on September 6, 2007. However, Orneus left the three adult individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities alone and unattended in their group home from just before midnight on September 5, until 8:00 a.m. on September 6, 2007 while he went to visit with some friends who worked the midnight shift at the local Perdue plant.

The victim in this case requires 24 hours care, is severely mentally retarded, has Down’s syndrome, is non-verbal and needs total assistance with his activities of daily living. While the other two residents of the group home are also developmentally disabled, and suffer from other disabilities, the other two residents do not require 24 hour care, and thus Orneus was not charged with criminal neglect with regard to the other two residents.

This case was prosecuted by Attorney General Gansler’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit based on a referral from the Maryland Board of Nursing. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has authority to prosecute abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults in Medicaid-funded facilities and in Assisted Living Facilities across the State of Maryland.