Woodmere, NY - June 10, 2015 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arrests of four nurses who worked at Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center for allegedly failing to monitor a disabled patient as ordered by the patient’s physician. As a result, the patient fell and was injured.
“The charges in this case allege a shocking level of neglect and mistreatment, which caused serious injury to a patient,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “We have no tolerance for nursing home employees who fail to provide responsible care to patients in need. New Yorkers must know that their loved ones in nursing facilities are safe and being cared for by trustworthy individuals.”
Riadel Manzano, 43 of East Williston, Rodel Placino, 44 of Hewlett, Marrianne Borromeo, age 41 of Woodside, and Benetia Johnson, 25 of St. Albans, were working as nurses and supervising nurses caring for patients at Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Nassau County during the period from June 1 to June 9, 2012, when the defendants allegedly failed to properly monitor a disabled patient. According to court filings, the defendants falsely documented or instructed others to falsely document that a disabled nursing home resident had been monitored every thirty minutes for his safety, as ordered by his physician after a series of falls, when in reality the resident was not monitored as required. While he was not being monitored, the resident fell at Woodmere and struck his head, resulting in a laceration which required him to be hospitalized and receive staples to his scalp. After being returned to Woodmere, the following day the resident was found sitting on the floor and was again hospitalized with respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.
The four defendants were arrested by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on June 10, 2015, and charged with Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony. Manzano, the former Director of Nursing Services at Woodmere who supervised the other defendants at the time, was also charged with Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree and Tampering With Physical Evidence, both of which are class E felonies. The four defendants were arraigned before Judge Paul Meli in First District Court in Hempstead. The cases of Manzano, Placino and Borromeo were adjourned for conferences on June 16, 2015, and the case for Johnson was adjourned until June 22 in the felony screening part in Mineola.
The charges are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
This case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General James P. Clarke of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Hauppauge Regional Office. The case was investigated by Special Investigators Dawn Scandaliato and Regina Hogan with assistance from Supervising Investigator Greg Muroff and Deputy Chief of Downstate Investigations Kenneth Morgan. Jane Zwirn-Turkin is the Regional Director of the MFCU Hauppauge Office. Acting Director Amy Held leads the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan leads the Criminal Division.