A former certified nurse’s aide has been sentenced to one year and one day in jail after being found guilty of causing serious injury to a Valley City nursing home resident.
The decision from Southeast District Judge Jay Schmitz was announced by state Attorney General Drew Wrigley, whose office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit prosecuted the case.
According to trial evidence, Gracious Weah in 2020 performed an improper, one-person lift of a female resident at Sheyenne Care Center, resulting in severe, painful injuries. Weah failed to report the injury, causing the resident to be undiagnosed and untreated for more than 12 hours.
The resident died in 2021.
Last month, a jury found Weah guilty of aggravated assault causing permanent impairment, and reckless endangerment.
Schmitz also ordered that Weah complete three years’ supervised probation — and be prohibited from working in care settings during that time.
Weah will also be excluded from receiving payments from any Federal healthcare program such as Medicaid or Medicare for at least five years.
= =
(ND Attorney General’s release: )
– Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced today that the Honorable Jay Schmitz
sentenced Gracious Weah to serve 1 year and 1 day in jail after a jury found Weah guilty of Aggravated
Assault Causing Permanent Impairment, and Reckless Endangerment. Weah’s actions caused a severe
and painful injury to a resident of the Sheyenne Care Center in Valley City, and Weah failed to report
the injury. Judge Schmitz also ordered that Weah complete 3 years of supervised probation and that
she be prohibited from working in care settings for that time period.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a division of the North
Dakota Attorney General’s Office, with the assistance of the Valley City Police Department. The
Unit reported the sentence to the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services, and Weah will be excluded from receiving payments from any Federal
healthcare program such as Medicaid or Medicare. The exclusion will last a minimum of 5 years. The
exclusion effectively prohibits Weah from working with patients in the healthcare industry.
Attorney General Wrigley said “This sentence serves the dual purpose of holding the offender
accountable for her heartless conduct and protecting the citizens of North Dakota. The Attorney
General’s Office is committed to protecting vulnerable adults receiving services in long term care
settings, and we are asking the legislature for additional personnel so we can further elevate these
priority investigations and prosecutions.”
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
