Operator of home charged in theft from residents

The former operator of an East Germantown personal-care home was charged yesterday with stealing about $50,500 in federal checks that were supposed to go to residents.

Until 2007, Lamunda Nichols, 52, of Philadelphia, legally ran the home on the 900 block of East Locust Avenue. When residents moved away, she "deliberately" failed to notify the Social Security Administration, according to charges in U.S. District Court. She endorsed the checks and kept the money, federal prosecutors said.

In 2007, the state Department of Public Welfare revoked her license and ordered Nichols to cease operating the 40-room facility, but some residents continued to live there until this July. - Nathan Gorenstein