Riadel Manzano Allegedly Filed False Records In Order To Conceal Neglect Of Nursing Home Resident
Schneiderman: My Office Won’t Tolerate Those Who Endanger The Well-Being Of Some Of Our Most Vulnerable Citizens
NEW YORK – (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the indictment of Riadel Manzano, 44 of East Williston, on charges of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree and Tampering with Physical Evidence for giving falsified records to a NYS Department of Health Investigator at a Woodmere nursing home.
“Licensed health care professionals have a solemn responsibility to ensure that their patients are properly cared for,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “My office won’t tolerate those who endanger the well-being of some of our most vulnerable citizens, or those who attempt to cover up abuse and neglect.”
In 2012, Manzano was working as the Director of Nursing Services at Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center when she allegedly knowingly provided falsified resident monitoring records to a NYS Department of Health investigator who was present at the facility investigating a complaint. It is charged that Manzano knew that a disabled resident had not actually been monitored every thirty minutes by staff, as ordered by a physician, and she gave false records representing that the resident had in fact been monitored to the inspector for use in his official investigation. A doctor ordered that the resident be monitored every thirty minutes because he had previously fallen repeatedly and was injured as a result of the falls.
Manzano was arrested by Attorney General Schneiderman’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on June 10, 2015. Manzano was indicted by a Nassau County Grand Jury on March 22, 2016. She was arraigned on the indictment before Judge Meryl Berkowitz in Nassau County Court on April 1, 2016, and surrendered her passport to the court. The case was adjourned for conference on May 13, 2016 in Nassau County Court in Mineola.
Three other related defendants have already entered guilty pleas in connection with this matter.
This case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General James P. Clarke of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), Hauppauge Regional Office. This case was investigated by Special Investigators Dawn Scandaliato and Regina Hogan with assistance from Supervising Investigator Greg Muroff and Deputy Chief of Downstate Investigations Kenneth Morgan. Janes Zwirn-Turkin is the Regional Director of the MFCU Hauppauge Office. MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney. The Criminal Justice Division is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.
The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
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