F0602

E

Failure to Protect Residents From Misappropriation and Exploitation of Personal Funds

Raytown, Missouri Survey Completed on 01-20-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves failures to protect residents from misappropriation and exploitation of their personal funds by facility staff. One cognitively intact resident with Lewy body disease and anxiety authorized a $400 withdrawal from their trust account for a recliner chair. The Business Office Manager (BOM) issued a trust check for this amount and gave it to the Social Services Director (SSD) to purchase the chair. The SSD later told the BOM that a recliner had been ordered through the SSD’s personal Amazon account, that it was of poor quality, and that it had been returned with an $80–$86 restocking fee, but no documentation of this transaction or any refund was found. No recliner was ever delivered to the resident, and no funds were ever redeposited into the resident’s trust account. Over several months, the BOM repeatedly inquired by email and phone about the status of the chair or the funds, but the SSD did not respond. The resident became distressed, reporting to staff, hospice, and visitors that the SSD had taken their money, and law enforcement was notified; the facility’s investigation substantiated misappropriation of funds at the facility level.

A second cognitively intact resident with COPD, morbid obesity, and cirrhosis had a documented history of willingly providing money to staff and others, with a care plan directing staff to provide protective oversight, financial safety review, and supervision of access to the resident’s lockbox. Despite this, the resident was able to give substantial sums of money and access to financial instruments to staff. The resident reported giving a CNA approximately $1,300 (including $1,000 in cash and additional amounts via debit card) to help with rent and utilities after receiving text messages about possible eviction, and also giving money for a staff member’s trip. Another resident, who was in a relationship with this resident, stated that they accessed the resident’s lockbox at the resident’s request, counted out $1,000 in cash, and handed it to a housekeeper for the CNA, and later handed the resident’s debit card to the CNA and housekeeper while stating the PIN aloud so staff could hear it. The resident explained in a written statement that they gave money because they felt unloved, had been abused all their life, and believed helping people made them nicer to them.

Additional information from staff and residents corroborated that the second resident had given large sums of money to staff. A certified medication technician and an LPN both reported hearing the resident state that they had given the CNA $1,000–$1,300 for rent and that the resident was worried the CNA would get into trouble. Another resident reported being upset that the resident was giving money to staff and described witnessing the cash and debit card transactions. The facility’s Registered Nurse Investigation documented that the DON was notified that a resident had reported seeing the second resident give money to staff, that police were contacted, and that officers interviewed involved parties and confirmed the resident had voluntarily provided money to staff on multiple occasions. The facility concluded there was a strong possibility that the alleged misappropriation incidents involving the CNA, housekeeper, and activity assistant had occurred, and law enforcement reports described the situation as larceny involving staff taking approximately $1,000 from the resident.