Baltimore County Circuit Court sentences caregivers for neglect

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jan 9, 2008

Two former caregivers for developmentally disabled individuals were sentenced to prison for neglecting their charges in separate incidents, the Maryland attorney general's office announced. April Stevens, 27, of Edgewood, was sentenced in Baltimore County Circuit Court to two years imprisonment with all but six days suspended, and two years probation, during which time she may not care for vulnerable adults.

Stevens was charged with leaving two developmentally challenged women alone in a minivan in December 2006 while she went shopping at White Marsh Mall. In the second incident, Obioma James Ezeocha, 27, of Parkville, was sentenced in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore County to two years imprisonment with all but 30 days suspended, and two years probation, during which time he may not work as a caregiver. Prosecutors said last March Ezeocha left his post at a group home in Woodlawn, at which vulnerable adults resided, to go to a party for his roommate. Returning to the home the following morning, he was involved in a traffic accident and arrested for driving under the influence.