IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF ARREST WARRANT BEFORE ME,, Judge of the Circuit Court, in and for Broward County, Florida, personally appeared LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATOR II RICHARD RODRIGUEZ of the Florida Attorney General s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, who being first duly sworn, deposes and says that he has reason to believe that certain laws of the State of Florida have been violated, in particular: F.S. 825.102(3)(c), Neglect of a Disabled Adult, and that the facts tending to establish probable cause for this application are as follows: Your Affiant is employed as a Law Enforcement Investigator II with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Attorney General, Department of Legal Affairs, State of Florida, since April 16, 2001. Prior to being employed with MFCU, your Affiant was a Senior Investigator for a total of 17 years with the Tampa, Hillsborough County, and Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Medical Examiner s Office. Your Affiant s duties included investigating Homicides and Wrongful Deaths. Your Affiant also served as a Deputy Sheriff/Narcotics Detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff s Office in Tampa for 8 years. Your Affiant has attended numerous schools in criminal investigations and attended specialized training and seminars. Your Affiant has supervised, conducted and/or participated in all types of criminal investigations, including Homicides, Robberies, Burglaries, Thefts, Narcotics (Trafficking), Fraud, and Racketeering. BACKGROUND Medicaid is the state and federal partnership that provides health coverage for selected categories of people with low incomes. Its purpose is to improve the health of people who might otherwise go without medical care for themselves and their children. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is the State of Florida Agency that Page 1 of 5
oversees the Medicaid Program to provide medical services for indigent recipients. The MFCU exists to investigate and uncover Medicaid fraud that occurs in the State of Florida. The MFCU may investigate any criminal violations discovered during the course of those investigations, pursuant to Florida Statutes 16.59 and 409.920(8)(a). The MFCU is also empowered to investigate abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly or disabled. The MFCU is under the authority and supervision of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Florida. This Affidavit details an investigation by the MFCU into the neglect of a disabled adult residing at a group home located in Broward county, Florida. The neglect was committed by one of the staff members, JOSEPHINE DENISE GORDON. She is the subject of this probable cause affidavit. INVESTIGATION Sworn statements taken by your Affiant revealed that the victim, M.S., is a 24-yearold Medicaid recipient who suffers from mental retardation that restricts his ability to perform the normal activities of daily living. M.S. is a disabled adult as defined by Florida Statutes 825.101(4). M.S. was a resident at Home Sweet Home of South Florida, Inc. (Home Sweet Home), a group home located at 4111 SW 27 th Street, Hollywood, Broward county, Florida. A group home is a residential facility which provides a family living environment including supervision and care necessary to meet the physical, emotional and social needs of its residents. GORDON was employed by Home Sweet Home as a care giver during the incident in question. She lived in the facility and was responsible for the well-being and safety of its residents. In that capacity, she was M.S. s caretaker, as defined by Florida Statutes 825.101(2). The investigation revealed that while working at Home Sweet Home on July 9, 2006, at approximately 3:30am, GORDON was awakened by M.S. s screams. GORDON found M.S. in the bathroom leaning over the tub with the shower head in his hand and the hot water running. Even though M.S. had just been burned, GORDON failed to call 911, Page 2 of 5
her supervisors or otherwise seek medical assistance for M.S. Later that morning, Mary Perry, another staff member at Home Sweet Home, arrived at the facility and observed that M.S. had a dark area on the side of his face and neck area. Perry asked GORDON what had happened to M.S. to which GORDON advised she did not know. GORDON then left the facility for several hours. At approximately 11:30am, Perry noticed that the darkened area on M.S. s face was starting to peel and bubble. Perry telephoned GORDON s cell phone twice to advise of M.S. s condition but did not get a return call. Around 3:30pm, GORDON arrived and Perry pointed out the area of the skin slippage. GORDON started rubbing it and the skin came off, so she put Neosporin ointment on it and told Perry that it would be all right. GORDON again failed to call 911, her supervisors or otherwise seek medical assistance for M.S. The next day, at approximately 8:05am, the owner of Home Sweet Home, Howard Roberts, arrived at the facility to pick up the residents for transport to their learning centers. He was advised by GORDON that M.S. was not attending classes that day because M.S. had a rash around his neck. Roberts advised that he entered the facility to view M.S. s rash. According to Roberts, GORDON told him that M.S. s rash came from sitting on the couch. Roberts advised that M.S. had a darkened area on his face, head, neck and back and felt the victim needed medical attention. At approximately 9:30am, the victim was taken to Dr. Nancy Bernard of Hallandale, Florida, who noted second-degree burns on the left side of M.S. s face, on the back of his head, his shoulder and his back. When Roberts questioned GORDON as to M.S. s injuries, GORDON claimed she had no idea how M.S. got burned. Roberts asked GORDON why she had not called 911 when she saw M.S. s injuries to which GORDON claimed she did not know. As part of the investigation, your Affiant obtained a sworn statement from GORDON in which she admitted falsely telling Howard that M.S. had a rash on his head, face and neck. When asked why GORDON did not call an ambulance, she repeatedly stated that she did not know why. She stated that part of her training is to call 911 in case of an emergency and then advise the owner. GORDON was asked why she did not call the paramedics when she touched M.S. s face and his skin began to peel. She stated she did Page 3 of 5
not know. GORDON admitted that she knew M.S. s burns were serious when she saw that his skin was slipping from his face. GORDON admitted I did wrong by not calling for help. GORDON was questioned as to whether M.S. appeared to be in pain and agony at the time she found him in the hot water to which she replied yes. SUMMARY GORDON failed to provide M.S. with the care, supervision and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for M.S. s well-being. By her own admission GORDON knew that M.S. had been burned, yet GORDON failed to call 911, her supervisors or otherwise seek medical assistance for M.S. To the contrary, when questioned by the owner of the facility as to M.S. s injuries, she first said that it was a rash caused by the sofa and later denied knowing how M.S. was burned. As a result of GORDON s negligence, M.S. was forced to wait for approximately 30 hours before receiving appropriate medical care for his second-degree burns. Based upon the totality of the circumstances, your Affiant has probable cause to believe and does believe that on or about July 9, 2006, MARCIA MARIE MURRAY did commit the offense of Neglect of a Disabled Adult, in that she willfully or by culpable negligence neglect, as defined by Florida Statutes 825.102(3)(a), M.D., a disabled adult, contrary to Florida Statutes 825.102(3)(c), and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida. WHEREFORE, your Affiant prays that an Arrest Warrant be issued commanding the Sheriffs of the State of Florida, all and singular, their Deputies, the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, any of his duly constituted agents, the Attorney General s Director of Medicaid Fraud and his duly appointed Law Enforcement Investigators and all Florida police officers with the proper and necessary assistance, to arrest JOSEPHINE DENISE GORDON. Page 4 of 5
INVESTIGATOR RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, AFFIANT Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of, 2007. CIRCUIT JUDGE IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY Page 5 of 5