A.G. Schneiderman Announces Guilty Verdict For Suffolk County Nurse Aide Who Covered Up Neglect Of Dementia Residents
Suffolk County, NY - July 28, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today that Yolanda Monsalvo, 51, of Ronkonkoma, NY—a former certified nurse aide at the Medford Multicare Center for Living (“Medford”)—was found guilty of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree after a trial in Suffolk County Court. In April 2016, Monsalvo was indicted for lying in an investigation report prepared after an unsupervised dementia resident at Medford fell from her wheelchair and sustained serious injuries.
“Nursing home caregivers are entrusted to provide the highest level of safety and care to our most vulnerable residents,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “This verdict should serve as a reminder that there are serious consequences for abandoning nursing home residents and then trying to cover up neglect.”
Trial evidence revealed that the defendant disregarded her assignment to monitor a group of Medford residents suffering from dementia and left them unattended. The defendant claimed that she left the residents unmonitored for a short period to use the bathroom, during which time one resident broke an arm and sustained serious head injuries after falling from a wheelchair. However, evidence—including video surveillance footage from the facility—showed that the defendant left the building entirely. The evidence further showed that the defendant did not seek coverage from other staffers and simply left her assigned residents unattended.
Justice William J. Condon, who conducted a bench trial, found the defendant guilty of felony falsification of business records. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison at sentencing on September 21, 2017. The defendant also faces revocation of her New York State Nurse Aide certification.
This case was tried by Special Assistant Attorneys General Peter Zadek and Jason Bassett of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (“MFCU”), Hauppauge Regional Office. This case was investigated by Special Investigator Regina Hogan with assistance from Supervising Investigator Greg Muroff, Deputy Chief of Downstate Investigations Kenneth Morgan, and Systems Analyst Doreen Lankowicz. Jane Zwirn-Turkin is the Regional Director of the MFCU Hauppauge Office. Special Assistant Attorney General Thomas O’Hanlon is the MFCU Chief of Criminal Investigations, Downstate. MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney.