Authorities hope man who gave meth to nursing home resident will receive proper help

Authorities hope man who gave meth to nursing home resident will receive proper help

Lawrenceburg Now

Lawrenceburg Police Chief Terry Beecham said Thursday that everyone involved in the case where a local man gave meth to a nursing home resident, is hopeful that the suspect will receive the proper help.

Police officers had been asked to investigate last weekend when it was discovered that someone had given methamphetamine to the eighty-five year old resident. She told officers that she believed it was given to her by a former neighbor who had visited her the previous evening. She told them that he had handed her the bag saying that, “It would make her feel good.”

Fortunately the resident did not take any of the meth. The resident in question suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and other health problems, which has made the investigation a bit more complicated. Not knowing what the substance was, she had kept it in her bra, later asking a staff member to identify it. Reports show that narcotics officers determined the substance to be .3 grams of crystal meth.

Beecham said that the suspect in the case has since been taken into custody on criminal charges, but that the fifty-one year old man is “of a diminished capacity.” He told officers that he had heard that the woman was in a lot of pain, and he was trying to help her. He even offered to give some of the drug to police officers, should they be in pain.

“There are basically two victims here,” Beecham said, “the resident and the nursing home itself. Because it’s an on-going investigation, coupled with the suspect’s diminished capacity, we aren’t releasing the names of those involved.”

Beecham said that this was an isolated incident that is not usually seen in this area. “This was a highly unusual event committed by an individual with a long-standing drug problem whose intent was not to harm, but to help. But it was highly illegal because of the meth he chose to give her, because his brain is fried because of drug use.”

Although the suspect has been arrested on criminal charges, Beecham said that ultimately the goal is to ensure that he receives the help he needs. “Because of the criminal act – and it was a criminal act to introduce the meth to a patient in a nursing home – we just can’t ignore the fact that he put this lady’s life in danger…But everyone involved understands that he has a diminished capacity. Our goal is to get him help.”

Beecham added, “We are charged with looking into the criminal aspect of the case, but we haven’t lost our humanity. He has a problem that concrete and blocks won’t fix.”