New Jersey AG charges 4 in residential care abuse, fraud
Prosecutors announced cases involving facilities in Burlington and Ocean Counties.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office on Monday announced abuse charges against two women who worked at a residential care facility in Burlington County and an identity-theft case against a woman who worked for a facility in Ocean County. Prosecutors also charged a fourth woman in North Jersey for stealing from a nursing-home resident.
Martha Ruiz, 25, of Camden, and Kendall Crouch, 24, of Clementon, were charged with conspiracy, neglect of disabled person, and endangering another person for an episode that occurred while they worked as aides at Bancroft Neurohealth in Mount Laurel.
On June 1 last year, the women allegedly struck an disabled male resident in the face, forced a urine-soaked towel onto his face, forcefully restrained him to his bed, and twisted his hand and wrist, prosecutors said.
Christine Sanford, 31, of Atlantic County, was charged with forgery, identity fraud, and a related offense for allegedly assuming the identity of a certified nurse aide last November to work at Barnegat Rehabilitation & Nursing Center because her personal certification had been revoked by the New Jersey Department of Health in 2017.
In North Jersey, Karissa-Anne Frannicola, 29, of Caldwell, allegedly stole more than $20,000 from an elderly nursing home resident over whom she had power of attorney. The nursing home was not identified in the indictment.
The charges were contained in three indictments handed up Monday by a state grand jury in Trenton.