Three employees of a Georgia senior living community have been arrested after allegedly making a Snapchat video instead of monitoring a resident while she waited for a hospice nurse.
Bentley Senior Living at Northminster, an independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Jefferson, GA, told McKnight’s Senior Living on Monday that the employment of three workers recently had been terminated for “unprofessional behavior at work.”
“It is our privilege to be entrusted with the care of the residents of this community, and we will never tolerate from our staff anything less than the utmost respect and care for each of our residents,” the community said in a statement.
The operator did not name the workers, but Jorden Lanah Bruce, 21, Mya Janai Moss, 21, and Lizeth Jocelyn Cervantes Ramirez, 19, were arrested June 22 and charged with exploiting an elderly and disabled person for the June 13 incident.
Police told the Athens Banner-Herald that the employees were instructed to monitor a 76-year-old resident who had had a stroke and was waiting for a hospice nurse. Instead, police said, the workers ignored the woman and smoked a vape pen, laughed, used profanities and made obscene hand gestures as they recorded and posted a Snapchat video they titled “The End.”
Another employee saw the video a few days later and reported it.
“Upon learning of the incident, we promptly contacted the Jefferson Police Department, and an investigation was started,” Bentley Senior Living at Northminster said in the statement. “No resident’s condition was compromised as a result of this unfortunate event.”
Bruce and Moss were released on bond, but Ramirez was being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as of Friday afternoon, the media outlet reported.
“All employees must produce required documentation that proves they are either U.S. citizens or legally permitted to work in the United States — which these individuals did,” Bentley Senior Living at Northminster said. “We do not hire illegal immigrants. An ICE detention does not mean that an individual was working illegally.”
