A 49-year-old home healthcare worker that failed to check in on his patient, who was found injured after jumping out of a Frederick County apartment building will spend time behind bars, the state’s attorney’s office announced.
Emmanuel Olaeken Owoyeye was ordered by a judge to spend 12 months in the Frederick County Adult Detention Center with another nine years suspended for neglecting a vulnerable adult.
In August last year, a resident was walking his dog when he spotted a man on the ground, and it was later determined that the 55-year-old victim was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, as well as dementia, and was in Owoyeye’s care.
A deputy from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office tracked down Owoyeye, who admitted he had not checked on the man in more than three hours, according to the state’s attorney.
Prosecutors say that while the man was unsupervised, he removed the screen from his bedroom window and jumped out, falling three stories.
“Because the victim was known to try to get out of the apartment through the balcony or the front door, (Owoyeye) was instructed by his supervisors that he was required to have the victim in line of sight when the victim was awake and to check on him periodically if he was sleeping,” they added.
Owoyeye – who was paid to care for the man – failed to supervise him as required, prosecutors continued.
The 55-year-old man was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma in Baltimore, and officials say that as a result of his injuries, he will be confined to a wheelchair and unable to live outside of a nursing home setting.
When he is released, a judge also ordered that Owoyeye serve five years of probation, the first three supervised. He is also barred from working with vulnerable adults or children.
