Carroll County Caregiver Charged with Abuse of Vulnerable Adults

BALTIMORE, MD (January 27, 2009) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that former caregiver Colin Lee Gambill, 24, of the 10000 block of Old Liberty Road in Frederick was indicted by a Carroll County Circuit Court Grand Jury with Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult and Criminal Interference with the Rights of Individuals. The charges concern the treatment he provided to two vulnerable adult victims in his care at a group home operated by the ARC of Carroll County.

Gambill was a paid assistant residential advisor, caring for two developmentally disabled men who resided at a group home in Westminster. The six-count Indictment alleges that over the course of an eight-month period, from November, 2007 through June, 2008, Gambill abused the vulnerable adult victims who lacked the physical and mental capacity to provide for their own needs.

Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult is a Misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Interference with the Rights of Individuals is also a Misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. A Criminal Indictment is but an accusation and all persons are innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Gambill remains free on a $10,000 bond. A court appearance has not yet been scheduled.

This case was investigated by Attorney General Gansler’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has authority to investigate and prosecute abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults in facilities that receive Medicaid funds, in group homes that provide services to the developmentally disabled, and in Assisted Living Facilities across the State of Maryland.