GB woman arrested for elderly abuse

A Gulf Breeze woman was arrested last week on charges she allegedly abused a disabled nursing home resident.

Latoera O’Neal, of America Avenue, was released from Santa Rosa County Jail on a $5,000 bond last week.

O’Neal, 34, was a caregiver at Horizons of Okaloosa in Fort Walton Beach when the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began looking into claims she was abusing a resident. Both the Florida Department of Family and Child Services and Adult Services had filed complaints.

Witnesses reported that O’Neal grabbed the victim by his feet and pulled him off the facility’s van, causing him to strike his head on the floor of the van, the running board and the pavement. Eye witnesses told investigators they were shocked by what they had observed. O’Neal was immediately suspended and soon quit working at the facility.

She is charged with one count of abuse of a disabled person, a third-degree felony. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

The case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the First Judicial Circuit.

O’Neal’s arrest was a joint effort of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.