Caregiver convicted of assaulting vulnerable adult

Ronald Barnes hit victim at Owings Mills medical facility

 TOWSON, Md. —A former Baltimore County caregiver was found guilty Tuesday of abusing a vulnerable adult who was in his care.

Ronald Barnes, 54, of Lochearn, was convicted by a jury of second-degree assault after a two-day trial.

Barnes was employed as a driver/medical runner for a nonprofit day service helping the disabled, and he had taken to the victim to an Owings Mills medical center in December 2012.

Several witnesses reported seeing Barnes handling the 63-year-old victim in a rough manner and sometimes hitting him on the arms and head while the pair was in a waiting room.

While the victim didn't have any physical injuries, employees at the medical office put in a formal complaint with Barnes' company, L.I.F.E. Inc., and the Baltimore County police and attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit were called in to investigate.

"Abusing any other person is an intolerable act, made that much more heinous when the victim is vulnerable and unable to defend himself as in this case," said Attorney General Gansler. "We should all be thankful that eyewitnesses reported this assault and enabled justice to be served."

Barnes could get up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 12.