New details have been discovered about the Rushville woman accused of elder abuse.
WLDS/WEAI News recently became aware of the January 2019 discipline report from Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which says the Rushville nurse’s license was suspended months before she was arrested for criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident.
38 year old Bethany Mellor, of Rushville, allegedly committed elder abuse and theft under 500 dollars while serving as a caregiver in a long-term facility. Mellor worked at Walker Nursing Home in Virginia when she was arrested May 2nd by Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies.
According to Cass County Court documentation, Mellor has allegedly been caught on camera stealing benzodiazapene medication called ‘Alprazolam’, commonly known as Xanax.
Mellor is alleged to have criminally neglected a senior citizen getting long-term care at Walker Nursing Home. Mellor kept Xanax pills for herself and didn’t give them to the patient.
The January 2019 IDFPR discipline report says Mellor’s registered nursing license was placed on indefinite probation with work restrictions for a minimum of three years. This action was taken after she pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of cannabis, a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced to Cass County Court supervision on December 11th, 2017.
Mellor is reported to have called in fraudulent prescriptions at the Beardstown Walmart for substances while employed as a registered nurse at a facility in the state of Illinois, being the JBS facility in Beardstown. The report further dictates that Mellor was terminated from the JBS Beardstown facility where she worked as a nurse after a positive test on a drug screen.
According to Cass County State’s Attorney John Alvarez, the next steps in this case will be to revoke Mellor’s court supervision and have her court date moved up from its current date. Mellor is next set in Cass County court for the elder abuse and theft case on June 24th.
Alvarez says he may seek a sentence involving time served in the Department of Corrections.