Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992 TAG: 9202060329
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
CARETAKER GUILTY OF ASSAULTING 86-YEAR-OLD
Sisters Vernelle Crouch and Sylvia Cox had noticed bruises on their 86-year-old father every so often.He had bumped into something or fallen down, the woman who was paid to care for Oma Johnson would explain when asked for explanations of the marks and bruises.
Still concerned, the sisters tried a little experiment: They hid a tape-recorder in their dad's den and left it set on "record" for a week.
Wednesday, Christine Wilson, the 28-year-old woman who had cared for Johnson in his home for nearly two years, was convicted of assault and battery for her treatment of the elderly man.
After listening to the sisters' homemade tape of what happened inside the house for a week, Bedford County General District Judge James Farmer said his decision wasn't hard.
The tape - made on a machine that automatically activated when it picked up the sounds of voices in Johnson's house - captured Wilson yelling and cursing repeatedly at Johnson.
"Get up! Get up!" she screams at one point. "Get your a-- in that bathroom!" Johnson, who suffers from an illness related to Alzheimer's disease, can be heard moaning loudly during the tape.
Asked whether the moans were consistent with physical pain being suffered, Johnson's physician said yes.
"They were so consistent that I was nauseated listening to the tape," the Moneta doctor told the judge during a hearing Wednesday.
Wilson, who was fired from Johnson's home the day after the sisters retrieved their tape in August, testified Wednesday that she had never abused the man.
"I loved him to death," said Wilson, who now works at a fast-food restaurant. "I called him `Pop.' "
Wilson was not a trained nurse, but a babysitter, her attorney pointed out.
And, attorney Harvey Lutins said, Johnson's severe ailment caused him to moan, suffer hallucinations and be unable to clean himself or go to the bathroom alone.
Wilson's screaming was the only way she could "take care of an 86-year-old man who acted like a 2-year-old."
"There's no evidence she was doing anything but reprimanding him," Lutins said.
Bedford Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Philip Baker did not agree.
"She was popping this man for a week," Baker said. "She was using him as a plaything to ventilate her frustration."
If Wilson's behavior was considered suitable treatment of geriatric people, Baker said he would not care to get much older.
"I'd rather just get the backhoe, dig a ditch and roll me in there," he told the judge.
Farmer will sentence Wilson after a background report is completed. She could face a year in prison and $2,500 fine.
Johnson, who did not attend Wednesday's hearing, is now living in a nursing home in Bedford.
In front of Johnson's nine children - including Cox and Crouch, Wilson appeared to be very kind to their father, Crouch said.
Crouch's reaction when family members got together to hear results of the secret tape?
"Disbelief," Crouch said.