New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott announced that an Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) employee has been sentenced on charges he failed to dispense medications that group home residents required, and filed false documentation indicating that he did, in fact, provide the medications.
“The very lives of individuals living in group homes often depend on state employees whose responsibility is to, among many other things, dispense required medication,” said Inspector General Scott. “Thankfully, no one was injured due to the defendant’s misconduct, but as a result of my investigation, he has been held accountable for the risk he created.”
Scott Brown, 38, of Hadley, a Direct Support Assistant working in the Fenway Circle Individualized Residential Alternative (IRA) in Lake Luzerne operated by OPWDD, as a result of his conviction, will be placed in the New York State DNA database and was sentenced to pay all associated costs. Additionally, since being charged, he was no longer permitted to dispense medications. Last month he pled guilty to Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person, a Class A Misdemeanor.
At the time of the incident, Brown oversaw five residents in the IRA. Among the medications Brown failed to provide were anti-seizure medications and breathing treatments. Brown made admissions to the Inspector General regarding his illegal conduct.
Inspector General Scott thanked Warren County District Attorney Kathleen B. Hogan for prosecuting this matter and OPWDD for assisting in her investigation.
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