A Wayne County woman has been found guilty with abusing a patient at Ellisville State School.
Mississippi’s Attorney General Jim Hood announced Monday that a state employee has pled guilty to misdemeanor abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Jan Schaefer, public information officer for Mississippi’s Attorney General’s Office, said Beverly Pittman, 37, of 103 Magnolia Church Drive in Waynesboro, pled guilty earlier this month to one count of misdemeanor abuse of a vulnerable adult before a Jones County Justice Court Judge.
Schaefer said Pittman was employed with the Ellisville State School as a direct care alternate supervisor when “she struck a vulnerable adult with a broom handle multiple times.”
Schaefer said the incident occurred Jan. 8, 2009.
“Fortunately, the victim sustained no permanent physical injuries,” according to officials with the Attorney General’s Office.
The judge handling her case ordered Pittman to serve six months supervised probation, during which time she is to complete anger management classes. She also must pay a $500 fine, which includes court costs.
Hood said the case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General’s Office under the leadership of director and special assistant attorney General Scott Stuart.
“I would personally like to thank the staff members at the Ellisville State School, who where willing to stand up for these vulnerable adults who may not have been able to stand up for themselves,” Attorney General Hood said in a written statement. “It takes a lot of courage to report a co-worker and maybe even a friend, but we have had so many good people from this facility who do not hesitate to do the right thing.”
Schaefer said the Attorney General’s Office has handled three separate cases involving patients at the state school being abused.
Aside from Pittman’s case, a Laurel man and a Laurel woman have been charged in separate cases with abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Schaefer said in February, another employee of the state-funded residential mental retardation facility was convicted on one count of misdemeanor abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Hood reported that Gary Hardy, 48, of 252 Hoy Road, Laurel, was charged with “throwing a stapler that hit a resident of the Ellisville State School.”
Hardy served as transportation director at the school. Hardy had worked at the school for 23 years.
The Laurel man was sentenced on Feb. 26 by a Jones County Justice Court Judge to pay a fine of $255, plus court costs.
In another case, an Attorney General’s investigation resulted in a Laurel woman’s guilty plea for abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Anita Stamps, 43, of 11 Chickasaw Street in Laurel, entered a plea of guilty to one count of misdemeanor abuse of a vulnerable adult in Jones County Justice Court on April 21.
Hood said “Stamps was alleged to have straddled and twisted the arm of a vulnerable adult while employed as a direct care worker at Ellisville State School.”
The judge ordered Stamps to pay a $500 fine and received a six-months sentence, which was suspended.
Officials said the sentencing in the cases are important.
“The sentencing (in the Pittman and Stamps cases) also prevent these defendants from being able to work at any facility which accepts Medicaid for at least five years,” said Hood.
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