By TRACEY DRURY
tdrury@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1609

A former worker at Williamsville Suburban Nursing Home in Amherst was sentenced after pleading guilty to falsifying records to conceal the neglect of a patient.

Deborah Groth, 61, was sentenced by Erie County Supreme Court Judge Penny Wolfgang to a three-year conditional discharge and 50 hours of community service. The former Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) entered a guilty plea in December to three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a Class E felony.

According to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who announced the sentencing this week, Groth falsified a resident's records to demonstrate that she had administered an injection of insulin, took and recorded the resident's vital signs and applied skin treatment. Footage from a hidden surveillance camera revealed that she did not perform the procedures.

Groth has surrendered her LPN license and is required to provide the state with a DNA sample, pay a mandatory surcharge of $300 and a $25 victim-impact fee.

The facility, incorporated as Williamsville Suburban LLC, is owned by Legacy Health Care LLC and the Zacher family.

Schneiderman said in a release his office will continue to pursue safety in nursing homes statewide to ensure patients are treated with dignity and respect.

"In this case, a patient at the Williamsville Nursing Home was the victim of an employee who falsified records, which could have ultimately compromised the patient's health," he said.

"This is unacceptable, and we will work every day to ensure that those who try to cheat the system are caught and forced to pay for their crimes," Schneiderman said.

This case is part of the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit's ongoing nursing home initiative. The undercover operation also resulted in the arrest of several other former employees of the facility, whose cases were handled by Town of Amherst Court before the Hon. Geoffrey Klein:

• Former Certified Nurse Aide Linda Banks, 55, was sentenced Jan. 6 after pleading guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and two counts of willful violation of health laws (neglect) for improperly transferring the resident in and out of bed using a mechanical lift. Banks surrendered her CNA certificate.

• Former CNA Leslie Thompson, 62, was sentenced Jan. 26 after pleading guilty to two counts of falsifying business records in the second degree for failing to perform range-of-motion exercises on the resident and then documenting the records as if she did. Thompson signed an affidavit surrendering her CNA certificate.

• Former LPN Terri Brown, 38, was sentenced March 2 after pleading guilty to three counts of falsifying business records in the second degree for failing to provide skin treatments for the resident and then documenting the records as if she did. She surrendered her LPN license.

• Two other CNAs - Willena Bell, 49, and Diane Handley, 48 - each pleaded guilty March 2 to one count of willful violation of health laws (neglect) for improperly transferring the resident in and out of bed using a mechanical lift. They are due to be sentenced May 18.

• Additional criminal cases against two CNAs, Tweneboa Saow, 53, and Laquita Jones, 26, are pending in court.