Milwaukee nursing home employee charged; accused of neglecting resident
Jonathan Wallace
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee nursing home employee has been criminally charged, accused of neglecting a resident. 57-year-old Jonathan Wallace is facing one count of intentionally neglect resident – likely to cause great bodily harm.
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were dispatched to St. Anne's, located near 92nd and Capitol, on Aug. 15 for an elder abuse complaint.
When police arrived on the scene, they spoke with the director of nursing at St. Anne's. She told officers that on Aug. 11, she received word that a resident suffered abusive behavior at the hands of a caretaker. The caretaker was identified as Jonathan Wallace.
The director of nursing told police that the victim is a 78-year-old blind man. The victim told police that he fell after being pushed down by Wallace. After he had fallen, the victim claims Wallace refused to help him get back up and that he was in pain.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
Per the complaint, police spoke with a witness, who stated that he was in his wife's room around 1 p.m. on Aug. 11, when he heard yelling. The witness' wife resides down the hall from the victim. The witness claims he saw Wallace standing over the victim yelling," I'm not gone help you up, now get up." The witness stated that once Wallace noticed he was watching him, he then tried to pick the victim up.
Around 2 p.m. that same day, the witness claims Wallace drove up near him in the parking lot and shouted,"you better watch you lyin on, because if you make me lose this [expletive] job, we gone have a problem," according to the complaint. Wallace then drove off.
During the investigation, police received a statement from a second witness. This witness described an incident around 9 a.m. on Aug. 11 between the victim and Wallace. This witness claims they saw Wallace grab the victim roughly by the shirt because he was impatient for the victim to get up. The witness claims the victim told Wallace, "don't hurt me" and was visibly shaking.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android
The witness also stated that Wallace came up to her in the kitchen afterward and accused her of "calling people on him, trying to get a brother fired" and saying "I didn't push the [expletive] man down," according to the complaint.
During an interview with police, Wallace stated that he thinks the staff is out to get him and believes they are "lying on him" when it comes to treatment of residents.
Wallace was scheduled to make his initial appearance in Milwaukee County court on Wednesday, Aug. 21.