Criminal investigations at Warsaw retirement center
By Steve Weddle
(Virginia) -- The Virginia State Police was there with video cameras. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office sent deputies. The Warsaw Town Police Department is investigating. So is the state’s social services department. Chesapeake Bay Agency on Aging sent an ombudsman to examine the situation.
About the only people who weren’t at Warsaw Village Retirement Center the past few days are the administrators.
Just before midnight on Friday, August 3, the facility’s administrator and her assistant walked off the job, according to a doctor affiliated with the center.
“I didn’t walk off,” Tina King, the former administrator said. “I quit.” King said that she was “fed up” with working another double shift at the 36-resident facility. Her assistant, Melissa Lewis, also left.
Over the weekend, a number of state and local agencies began investigations into the management of the retirement center, though no one was interested in discussing the details.
“The State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation is currently investigating matters that involve Warsaw Village Retirement Center. At this stage, no charges have been filed,” cautioned Corrine Geller, spokesperson for the state police.
First Sgt. S.H. “Woody” Campbell, who sent Special Agent Marcy Lawhead to investigate, would not comment. The U. S. Attorney’s office told him no to discuss the matter, Campbell said.
Dave Schiller, assistant attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Richmond, would neither confirm nor deny an investigation. Such is their policy, he said.
The Warsaw Police Department is currently conducting an investigation separate from that of the state police, officials said.
On the Monday following the walk-out, Dr. Nazir Chaudary, the owner of the facility, sent Majd Kamalmaz to serve as acting administrator. They are “trying to get through the next few days,” then formulate a plan, Kamalmaz said, adding that the facility “has pretty good coverage.” He added that the center has a full-time nurse joining the staff later in the week.
On Monday and Tuesday, Kamalmaz and Chaudary met with family members of residents to assure that “things were under control,” Kamalmaz said, stressing that the families are “comfortable” with the situation.
Such is not the case with the state’s social services department, which is concerned with the lack of qualified staff, an issue that is not uncommon for rural facilities of this size. The bigger problem, Kamalmaz said, is qualified employees not showing up for their scheduled shifts.
An investigation by the Northern Neck News has confirmed that three certified nurses’ assistants who had been scheduled to begin work at 3 p.m. on Friday, August 3, did not report for duty.
Asked about the no-shows, Kamalmaz said, “That sort of thing tends to happen right after pay day.”
“It happens when the person who owns the place doesn’t put money into it,” countered Tina King, the administrator who quit later that night. On Tuesday, King hired local attorney Gordon Wilkins and has been advised not to grant further interviews, she said.
“Friday, when I left, I’d worked from 8 in the morning until 11:15 at night,” King’s former assistant, Melissa Lewis, explained, adding that this was far from a rare occurrence. She said that she often found herself working 72-hour weeks.
Lewis offered a number of reasons she and King quit. “I left because the place was understaffed,” she said. What finally forced her to leave, she said, was that the ownership docked her pay for three sick days. “I did whatever I could for that [expletive] facility, and I just had enough when they did that.”
Lewis also said that she and King frequently used their own money to buy bread and cheese for the residents because the center ran out of food. She said that it took “months and months” for her to be reimbursed for the expense.
Kamalmaz said that the problem is a lack of state funds. “Virginia just doesn’t fund its assisted living facilities near as well as other states around here,” he said.
Lewis, who has been working at the facility for three years, doesn’t blame the state for the money problems. “It’s Dr. Chaudary’s fault for not doing what needs to be done,” she said.
Kamalmaz said that the center is doing what needs to be done and will soon issue a formal statement on measures the facility is taking to “ensure the safety and comfort” of its residents.
The family members have been very understanding, Kamalmaz said. “They hope this place stays open.”
