FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
August 17, 2015
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
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AG ANNOUNCES CONVICTION OF FORMER EMPLOYEE
FOR SLAPPING RESIDENT AT MOBILE NURSING HOME
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced the conviction
today of a former nursing home employee for abuse of a protected person, a Class C
felony. Elsie M. Sawyer, 31, pleaded guilty in Mobile County Circuit Court and was
sentenced to three years, which was suspended, placed on three years of probation and
ordered to complete an anger management class. In addition, she is barred from
working in a care facility that receives Medicaid or public health funding.
The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit. Evidence was presented to a Mobile County grand jury resulting in Sawyer’s
indictment on December 17, 2014. This morning, she pleaded guilty as charged. When
Sawyer was employed as a certified nursing assistant at Crowne Health Care of Mobile,
she was observed striking a resident and causing injury to the face and nose.
“Those who work in nursing homes hold a serious position of trust that they will
care for those who are vulnerable and in need of protection,” said Attorney General
Strange. “For someone to instead abuse those who are helpless will not be tolerated. I
am pleased that this defendant has been held to account for her crime and that she will
be barred from a position to abuse anyone else.”
Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorneys General Bruce
Lieberman and Jon Moody of his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He thanked the
Alabama Department of Public Health for referring the matter to his office, and Crowne
Health Care for its cooperation and assistance with the investigation.
The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit prosecutes cases of abuse,
neglect and exploitation covered by the Adult Protective Services Act that occur in
facilities that receive Medicaid funding, as well as handling cases of Medicaid fraud.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
