Two women are accused of organizing a fight club in a nursing home in North Carolina escaped jail time despite being convicted for promoting dementia patients to fight and then shooting results.
Police said Marilyn Latish McKee, 35, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 28, were arrested in October 2019 after reports in June of that year of elder abuse at the Danby home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
McKee pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a person with a disability, and Jordan pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a person with a disability, Forsyth County Superior Court Clerk told McClatchy News.
McKee was sentenced Monday to 45 days of probation with 12 months of supervised probation, the court said.
Meanwhile, Jordan was given a 30-day suspended sentence with 12 months of probation without supervision.
A third woman, 23-year-old Tonasia Yvonne Tyson, was also arrested along with the couple during the incidents but was later cleared of misdemeanor charges.
Police said nursing home workers Marilyn Latish McKee, 35 (left); and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 28 (right), are involved in elder abuse at the Danby home in North Carolina.
The incidents took place at Danby’s home (pictured) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The facility said it fired the women after learning of complaints of elder abuse.
Authorities said the three women were employees of Danby House, a nursing and memory care facility.
Court Documents Received Fox 8 revealed that McKee was accused of pushing a 73-year-old woman into her room while Tyson and Jordan filmed the incident and did not intervene.
The documents also revealed a second incident in which McKee, Tyson and Jordan observed, encouraged and filmed a fight between a 73-year-old woman and a 70-year-old woman.
Investigators found that during the second incident, older women – both patients with dementia – were fighting with each other in the bedroom, hitting each other while employees watched without trying to physically stop the fight. News and recording. When one of the patients asked for help, a staff member – it is not clear which one – told her to “stop screaming (expletive)”.
At some point during the fight, one of the older women began to choke the other. One of the employees was heard telling the woman to “hit her in the face” while another employee was telling his colleague to film the fight and send her a video.
The investigation stated that injuries to the elderly women were not reported and were not found.
Tonasia Yvonne Tyson, 23, pictured, was arrested and charged along with McKee and Jordan, but, unlike them, was not sentenced to prison for her role in the alleged elder abuse.
During the investigation, one of the detained officers allegedly told the police that one of the elderly women was a “pain in the ass”, and therefore they recorded what was happening on video.
Jordan was arrested on October 2, 2019 and charged with one count of assaulting a person with a disability. She was given an unsecured bail of $1,500.
Tyson was arrested a day later on the same assault charge. She was eventually released from custody on a written promise to appear in court.
McKee was arrested on October 10, 2019 on two counts of assault against a person with a disability and was given $1,000 unsecured bail.
Danby House said it fired the women immediately after they heard about the allegations against them.
“Danby House has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of those under our care,” a spokesperson for Fox 8 said, adding that the facility has been working with police throughout the investigation.
“Danby House has had additional staff training and a stricter screening process for all new and existing employees. There has been a change of leadership at Danby House in recent months and we see these situations as an opportunity to improve the high level of care we provide to our residents.”