A former caregiver has been sentenced after pleading guilty to assaulting a 21-year-old intellectually disabled woman with autism while working at her Ellicott City home, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced.
Howard County Circuit Court Judge Stephanie Porter sentenced 28-year-old Asia Monet Williams of Baltimore to 10 years of incarceration, suspending all but six months, which Williams has already served. She was also placed on three years of supervised probation and is prohibited from providing healthcare services to vulnerable adults during that period.
Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree assault stemming from an April 2, 2023 incident while she was working as an overnight direct support professional at a residence managed by the Linwood Center, a nonprofit serving individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, video showed Williams pulling the victim from a couch, dragging her by her feet and arms, kicking her and forcing her toward a bedroom. The following morning, the victim told a teacher that her back hurt and that Williams had pulled her by her hair. A school nurse later found a red scalp with a small patch of missing hair, along with bruising and abrasions on the victim’s arms, back, buttocks and knees.
This was Williams’ second trial in the case. She had previously been convicted of abuse of a vulnerable adult, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the case was sent back for a new trial.
“Vulnerable adults deserve to be treated with dignity and cared for with compassion, not abused by the very people entrusted to protect them,” Brown said. “My Office will always stand up for vulnerable Marylanders and hold accountable anyone who commits this unacceptable conduct.”
