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Briefly
Lewes continues annual
budget review process
Lewes Mayor and Council will continue
review of the draft budget for fiscal year
2006-07 at 10:30 a.m Thursday, March 2,
in City Hail. Following budget review the
council will hold an executive session to
discuss personnel matters. Executive ses-
sions are closed to the public. The panel
will return to open session for any action on
matters discussed in executive session.
contractors and basically teaching them a
whole new process," said Murphy. "It's
really taken the wind out of the sails on a
lot of them," he said. Murphy said he and
his staff receive at least three questions
each day pertaining m the city's compre-
hensive tree ordinance.
"We've had a lot of questions - lots of
questions," he said.
Murphy is working with Rehoboth
Commissioner Dennis Barbour to fine-tune
the ordinance. Officials are also working
with Milford arborist Bill Pike, who was
hired by the city in January. Pike assists the
city on Tuesdays and Thursdays concerning
trees.
CAPE GAZETTE - Friday, Feb. 24 - Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 - 3
Lewes architectural panel
to review Lingo project
The Lewes Commercial Architectural
Review Commission will meet at 7 p.m
Thursday, March 2, in City Hall. Items on
the agenda include a presentation by
Michael Sing of Calvin Clendaniel
Associates Architects, on behalf of Jack
Lingo Inc owners of property located at
1240 Kings Highway. The project would
add a second floor and new set or stairs
over a portion of the existing office. An
entry porch would be demolished and
rebuilt. Siding, trim and accent colors
would remain the same.
The panel will also discuss and possibly
revise the application process, demolition
regulations and sign ordinance.
Rehoboth contractors
learning tree rules
David Murphy, Rehoboth Beach building
and licensing inspector, said he is instruct-
ing contractors on tree ordinance details at
a Tuesday, Feb. 21, commissioner's meet-
ing. " More and more, we are training
Planners review Sussex West
phase, Hasting plan postponed
The state's Preliminary Land Use Service
(PLUS) reviewed a new phase for the
Sussex West development, off Route 9, out-
side of Lewes, during the Wednesday, Feb.
22 meeting in Dover.
Kevin Burdette and Ron Sutton of
McCrone Industries in Milton presented
plans for 82 manufactured homes on 20
acres in the Sussex West development.
Burdette said the property has been slat-
ed for:development and was included under
the originai conditional-use request, filed
with the state and county, seeking a higher
density.
The phase currently before PLUS pro-
poses units on 6,600-square-foot lots,
instead of the 7,500-square-foot lots
required in the environmentally sensitive
district.
State planners recommended hydrants
for fire safety, even though they were not
included in the original phases of the devel-
opment, but overall state planners appeared
pleased with this phase of Sussex West.
Hasting Hollow, also on the agenda for
Laura Ritter photo
Subdivision sought on School Lane
A major subdivision request has been made for 501 School Lane, near
Rehoboth Elementary School. Evelyn and Melissa Thoroughgood are the
applicants, according to the Rehoboth Beach Building and Licensing
Department. "Because it's a major subdivision, it's under review by the plan-
ning commission," said a representative with the building department.
The application has not yet been put on any agenda, and no date has been
selected for a review, but the Rehol)oth Beach Planning Commission referred
to the application at its Feb. 1B meeting.
state review, was postponed.
The developers plan to build the 276-unit
development on 204 acres east Route 30,
across from Neptune Road (Sussex 251)
and southwest of Milton.
The Hasting parcel has been in farmland
preservation for the last 10 years, but that
designation ends in 2006, allowing the
owners to develop. This proposal was
rescheduled for 12:15 p.m Wednesday,
March 1, in Dover. The meeting is open to
the public.
Tuman,Royal win honors
as women in history
Sussex County Council will present a
proclamation to Rhonda Tuman on behalf
of Delaware Technical & Community
College for teaching the history of women
for the past 12 years.
The proclamation recognizes the work
Delaware Technical & Community College
has done each year to provide a platform to
Continued on page 4
By Kerry Kester
Cape Gazette staff
The Delaware Attorney
General's Office has made five
arrests and is continuing to inves-
tigate a case of alleged Medicaid
fraud at Green Vailey Pavilion in
Smyrna. A Milton woman and a
Lewes woman were among four
who have already been charged
with felony offenses. There is a
warrant to arrest a fifth woman.
Sandra L. Edwards of Lewes
and Mary J. Casper of Newark
were charged with two counts of
felony heaith-care fraud, felony
conspiracy to commit health-care
fraud, felony patient neglect and
misdemeanor patient neglect.
Denise M. Rhinehardt, formerly
of Felton, is facing the same
charges but is out of state and has
not yet been arrested. Charged
with felony health-care fraud and
felony conspiracy to commit
health-care fraud were Jann B.
Cox of Milton and Mary L.
Yarrington of Magnolia.
According to Attorney General
Carl C. Danberg, the investigation
began two years ago and was a
joint effort between state and fed-
eral authorities, who share fund-
ing responsibilities for Medicaid.
The investigation began in May
2004, when a former employee at
the nursing home met with
Special Investigator Daniel Daly
at the Delaware Department of
COX EDWARDS
Justice. According to the affidavit
for probable cause, the employee
told the investigator that Casper,
nursing home administrator,
either falsified or caused staff'mg
records to be falsified. Medicaid
law requires a minimum staffing
ratio of 3.28 hours of direct care
per resident per day.
According to the affidavit,
Casper "had personal knowledge
that names would be added to
staffing sheets to reflect that cer-
tain employees were assigned to
particular duties when it was
known that the employees were
not performing those duties." The
employee also said the restorative
nursing program was discontin-
ued, which meant patients who
needed to have their range of
motion improved to help itk
pressure ulcers were not receiving
the care.
Daly also interviewed the son
of a patient. He claimed his moth-
er spent extended periods of time
without being repositioned and
suffered from bed sores. A hired
nurse expert who reviewed med-
ical records from the nursing
home found "consistent negli-
gence and failures on the part of
Green Valley Pavilion nursing
staff directly caused and con-
tributed to the decline and serious
physical nature to " states the
affidavit.
The affidavit further sta~tes
Rhinehardt intentionally missltat-
ed the level of care provided to
residents, and the former empkoy-
ee interviewed told the investi/ga-
tor she falsified Medicare amd
Medicaid payments under direc-
tion from her supervisors. The
former employee also claimed the
nursing home restorative program
was set up so certified nursing
assistants would work with resi-
dents to help them with range-of-
motion exercises. However, she
told Daly, it was not a reasonable
expectation for such a small stuff.
" it was not possible for fine
aides to do all the work they w~ere
required to do in the time they hind
to do it," states the affidavit. '"'If
you are applying for 70 add-~ns
and you have five aides that, antd I
don't even latoxv i. ttte~ were all
full time, you couldn't if you
looked at their hours, how could
you possibly be doing that for 70
patients?'"
The affidavit also states Casper
ended the position of a wound
care nurse and added those
responsibilities to other nurses.
The witness also told Daiy she
once saw Rhinehardt sign charts
as though work had been done,
but it had not.
The affidavits states Cox was a
floor nurse who took on the job of
unit manager in charge of over-
seeing the nursing staff. The affi-
davit states Cox knew she was
contributing to falsifying the doc-
uments by forging signatures and
otherwise falsifying the records,
and she knew it was a crime.
When the period for the Medicaid
review drew near in 2003,
Edwards, Yarrington and
Rhinehardt spent time "cooking
the books," states the affidavit.
Another former employee told
Daly she was aware she had been
listed on staffing reports when she
had not been at work, and
Rhinehardt solicited her to sign a
document that contained false
entries. "[She] stated that she told
Rhinehardt that she should not
sign the document because she
was hospitalized at the time these
services were purported to have
been performed and therefore
cotttd trot have he:c~ w~atkit~ at
the facility," states the affidavit.
"On a typical day, [the witness]
stated that a' half a dozen or more
[completely dependent'residents]
never got out of bed, nor did they
get repositioned in order to pre-
vent pressure sores and other
heaith-threatening conditions. At
times employees who were upset
with the lack of care would phys-
ically write their initials on the
diapers of residents, along with
the time that the diaper had been
changed, and when returning to
work the next day, the same dia-
per would be on the same resi-
dent. [She] stated that incompe-
tent residents with no visitors
were the most neglected patients
because there was no one to com-
plain about the neglect," the affi-
davit states, noting the witness
reported her concerns to Casper,
Rhinehardt and Edwards, the
director of nursing.
The affidavit lists numerous
other problems that occurred at
the nursing home pertaining to
patient care and falsifying records
to receive Medicaid reimburse-
ments.
"We remain committed to the
protection of our most vulnerable
citizens by investigating potential
abuse and vigorously prosecuting
those who would take advantage
of our senior citizens," said
Danberg in a release issued by the
&tttxt't~,~ Cxe.tter~l?~. ~((~e~
The current administrator at
Green Valley Pavilion said all
comments about the case must
come from the corporate office.
Comments were unavailable at
press time.
