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3 caregivers face abuse charges

The three have been fired from an Arc Nature Coast home for disabled adults.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published March 4, 2006

SPRING HILL - When a 25-year-old incontinent and mentally disabled woman soiled herself at the Arc Nature Coast's Gondolier Group Home, her caregivers took her onto the back porch, stripped off her clothes and sprayed her with a garden hose, authorities said.

In another case at the same home, a 45-year-old was having trouble adjusting to her surroundings and being very loud in the morning. So, authorities said, the caregivers locked her in the garage with the lights off.

And in a third incident at the same home, authorities said a 56-year-old woman was sprayed in the face with a squirt gun by staff members.

Three caregivers - Valary W. Smith, 35, of Brooksville; Sherrie A. Davis, 35, of Masaryktown; and Whitney V. Victory, 26, of Spring Hill - are facing charges of three counts each of aggravated abuse of a disabled adult.

Smith and Davis were in custody Friday at the Hernando County Jail on $30,000 bail. Victory has not been located.

The three women were suspended and then fired, according to the Arc Nature Coast executive director Mark Barry. He said that three more caretakers had been suspended - and could be fired - for witnessing the abuse and not reporting it.

The incidents took place between January and October 2005, but the allegations only came to light on Feb. 11, when the Arc reported it to the Sheriff's Office.

Barry said that at the end of January, the facility's residential services coordinator resigned - for performance reasons unrelated to the abuse - and the staff went around to the Arc's four group homes to see how things were being operated.

That's when they heard from staff members about the problems.

The Arc provides care for developmentally disabled residents of Hernando. The Gondolier Group Home in Spring Hill had a staff of seven to nine people tending to five residents, Barry said.

"I've been doing this for 25 years. I hear about these things at times in the field and you just hope nothing like this happens on your watch. I'm outraged by it," Barry said. "These particular individuals are pretty vulnerable."

Davis worked for the Arc for 51/2 years and was the supervisor in the house where the abuse occurred. Smith and Victory had worked for the Arc just over a year.

Barry said these employees made between $18,000 and $26,000 per year and had undergone full background checks before being hired.

"I don't think there's any permanent damage, but was it oppressive for them? I think the incident on the porch and in the garage were very oppressive," Barry said.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified March 4, 2006, 01:47:17]