Aug 10, 2007 6:40 pm US/Eastern
Search On For Healthcare Worker Accused Of Abuse
by Suzanne Collins
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
With a home video as proof, police charge a home healthcare worker with beating an elderly man.
As
Suzanne Collins reports, the defendant has now failed to show up in court for trial.
The video shows the aide point an angry finger at John Taylor, 90, after he apparently soiled himself. Before long, she roughly tugs at his clothes to get them off. Then she begins to slap and beat Taylor.
His daughter saw the video when she checked the surveillance system she'd installed to protect him.
"It's horrible," Jaki Taylor said. "My dad definitely did not deserve to receive the beating he did from this lady when he's helpless and counting on her to help him."
Anastacia Olouch, 53, was charged with assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. She was to go on trial Wednesday, but didn't show up. Now there's a warrant for her arrest. Jaki Taylor worries she might apply for another home health job.
"She's out there somewhere. God only knows," she said.
Taylor hired an aide for her dad because she works at numerous jobs. She installed cameras in her home because her father had a bruise once when he spent time in a nursing home.
"This is a 90-year-old man and she's taking it to him like she's in a boxing ring. I just stood there in shock," she said.
In the first week Olouch cared for her father, Taylor noticed no problems on tape. She didn't check again for a few weeks. Then one afternoon when the aide was still in the house, she checked the tape again and found the abuse.
"I say to myself, 'you know, you gotta get it together. You can't go upstairs and have her see anything is wrong,'" she said.
Taylor called police who arrested Olouch, but the woman has skipped bail. Friday,
Eyewitness News went to the aide's home but no one answered and messages weren't returned.
John Taylor is now in a nursing home. Doctors told his daughter they're not sure if the beating is linked to his rapid decline. Shortly afterward, he suffered a stroke or seizure and he's on life support.
The prosecutor's office said it could not comment on Olouch being missing, because they hope to eventually face her in court.
Jaki Taylor works part-time at WJZ as a technician.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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