SUFFOLK COUNTY---A Suffolk County Grand Jury has returned an indictment charging 11 persons with endangering the welfare of pediatric patients at a Suffolk County nursing home. The charged crimes are misdemeanors.

According to the indictment, the grand jury charged Felix Vinluan, Elmer Jacinto, Juliet Anilao, Harriet Avila, Mark Dela Cruz, Claudine Gamiao, Jennifer Lampa, Rizza Maulion, James Millena, Ma Theresa Ramos and Ranier Sichon with, among other crimes, endangering the welfare of children and physically disabled persons at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation & Health Care Center, a nursing home in Smithtown.

The indictment charges that Felix Vinluan, a Manhattan attorney, instructed the other defendants, all of whom were nurses at Avalon Gardens, to resign without giving notice to Avalon Gardens. According to the indictment, the sudden, massive resignation on April 7, 2006, endangered the lives of Avalon Garden's pediatric patients, "particularly the terminally ill JB, the child NL" and four other children on mechanical ventilators, identified in the indictment as "NC, BC, TM and TT."

According to the indictment, Avalon Garden's parent company, the Sentosa Care Group, and its affiliate, Sentosa Recruitment Agency, recruited the nurses in the Philippines, entered into contracts with the nurses and incurred expenses in bringing the nurses to the United States. The indictment states that if the nurses did not honor the three-year commitment clause of the contract, the nurses would be liable to Sentosa Care for money damages of $25,000.

The indictment charges that the nurses and their attorney sought to obtain for the nurses alternative employment and a release from their three-year commitment without incurring the financial penalty. According to the indictment, the defendants pursued their objective without regard to the consequences that their pursuit would have on the pediatric patients. The indictment charges that the defendants agreed that "the defendant nurses, including all the available nurses who cared for children on ventilators, would resign without giving Avalon Gardens notice." The indictment charges that the defendants resigned "knowing that their resignations . . . would render it difficult for Avalon Gardens to find, in a timely manner, skilled replacement nurses."

Each of the defendants, if convicted, faces a maximum of six years' imprisonment. Although Vinluan is a United States citizen, the other defendants are citizens of the Philippines and, if convicted, may face deportation. The district attorney's office has notified the Philippine Consulate General's Manhattan office of the indictment. 3-23-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette