Caregiver's theft case offers lessons in protection

Caregiver's theft case offers lessons in protection


BY ERICA BLAKE

BLADE STAFF WRITER



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Paula Watkins, left, hired Tammi Rounds from a home health-care agency when her husband, Keith, right, was battling brain cancer. Enlarge For a few hours a day over a period of three months, Paula Watkins left one of the most treasured people in her life -- her ailing husband -- in Tammi Rounds' care.



After battling brain cancer for years, Keith Watkins, a local lawyer, eventually needed round-the-clock care. In July, 2011, Mrs. Watkins used a local home health-care agency to hire Rounds to provide care during the part-time hours she was away at work.



Mrs. Watkins said it wasn't when she received a phone call from the fraud unit at her credit-card company that she first began to suspect anything was wrong but instead when she took her husband's gold chain -- one he wore daily with a cross -- to a jeweler for repairs and learned it was a cheap replica.



The last time Mrs. Watkins saw the woman whom she at one time trusted was when Rounds was handcuffed and led away to prison. It's a vision she hopes others won't have to experience.



"If that chain hadn't broken, I'd never have made the connection," Mrs. Watkins said recently while recounting how she learned most of her jewelry had been stolen and sold in the months before her husband died in November.



"My heart goes out to my husband, to sit there and see this," she said. He was not able to communicate but could comprehend. "When I told him she wasn't coming back, he smiled and nodded."



Rounds, 35, of 4435 Jackman Rd. was sentenced May 15 to 30 months in prison.



Originally charged with theft, a felony of the fifth degree, Rounds was eventually indicted again on a charge of theft from a disabled adult. She pleaded no contest to the felony April 5 and was found guilty.



As part of her sentence, Rounds was ordered to pay $31,010.88 in restitution.



Mrs. Watkins looks back on those months and realizes there are things she should have done differently. But at the time, her mind was so focused on her husband that she never considered a rarely used credit card or a drawer full of jewelry.



Now, she knows simple precautions, such as locking her bedroom door or asking to see Rounds' background check done by the agency, may have meant she still would have her original wedding ring to wear. She said she hopes others will learn of her experience and maybe make different decisions.



Tim Harrington, executive director of the Ability Center of Greater Toledo, said family members' desires to keep loved ones at home means agencies that offer care providers must be diligent in their hiring.



It is critical, he said, for agencies and home health-care organizations to assure that they are hiring people who are clean and that the agencies understand that these workers are working with some of the most vulnerable people in our society. "Therefore it is critical that there are screening processes and checks and balances in place."



He said it's difficult because at the core of a caregiver-patient relationship is trust. But doing additional research on the agency or caregiver as well as making sure an extra set of eyes -- maybe someone else in the family -- watches for signs can help catch, or even prevent, a negative experience.



Marla Osgood, an assistant county prosecutor who prosecutes cases involving disabled or elderly victims, said that there is an enhancement in the law specifically designed to charge those who steal from a vulnerable person. She said it was this law that elevated Rounds' case from a theft to a high-level felony, in which the maximum sentence for the charge was 36 months behind bars.



"Here in Lucas County the victimization of elderly and disabled adults will not be tolerated," she said. "We as a community cannot accept the exploitation of its most vulnerable citizens."



During her statement to the court at Rounds' sentencing, Mrs. Watkins expressed the guilt she now feels for leaving her husband in Rounds' care. She wondered what he did when Rounds took the gold chain from his neck and she believes that he broke the replacement to finally alert her to what was going on.



"Keith must have felt pretty helpless each time he saw you walk in that door each morning," she said in court. "I, myself, feel so terrible knowing that my decision to select you, Tammi, put him in a position to be abused when I promised I would take care of him. It's a tremendous sense of feeling like I let him down."



Mrs. Watkins, who has several folders with details of the theft investigation, said the only positive that could emerge is if she helps someone else avoid the heartache she endured. She stressed research -- a list of abusers can be found online at http://dodd.ohio.gov/healthandsafety/Pages/Abuser-Registry.aspx -- and preventative measures.



But she knows that when someone's life is turned upside down, as hers was last year, it is not always easy to think straight. And for that, she's thankful that law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges aren't tolerating this sort of deceit.



"I wanted her to tell me, Why did to you do this? How could you do it? How could you be in this profession and have no sympathy?" Mrs. Watkins said of her last encounter at the sentencing. "I wanted her to have the maximum time so she could sit and think about what she has done."



Contact Erica Blake at: eblake@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.






http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2012/05/29/Caregiver-s-theft-case-offers-lessons-in-protection.html