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Inset: Julie Ann Cross (Casper Police Dept.). Background: The NOWCAP facility in Wyoming where Cross allegedly tied a resident to their bed (Google Maps).
A 50-year-old woman working at a Wyoming nursing facility faces allegations of patient abuse. The charges stem from an incident where she purportedly used a silk scarf to restrain a patient’s head to her bed, allegedly to prevent movement.
Julie Ann Cross is charged with felony intentional abuse, neglect, or abandonment of a vulnerable adult, alongside a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.
During a Natrona County District Court appearance on Thursday, Cross entered a plea of not guilty, as reported by Cowboy State Daily. Judge Catherine Wilking granted her release on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
The alleged incident occurred in the early hours of July 14 at a Nowcap residential facility on North Walsh Avenue. A Casper Police Department officer responded to a 911 call after Cross’ colleague, arriving for the morning shift, found a 53-year-old woman with her head restrained, hindering her movement throughout the night.
The morning shift manager became aware of the situation while attempting to reposition the resident, discovering a blue scarf binding her hair to the bed, according to Oil City News. Another staff member photographed the knot, which reportedly took several minutes to untangle.
While the two employees were trying to assist the resident, Cross, who had been the only person responsible for the resident during the night shift that evening, allegedly came into the room and attempted to push one of her co-workers before trying to grab the blue scarf.
When one of the co-workers asked Cross why she had tied the resident’s head down, Cross allegedly replied, “It was to keep [the resident] from moving,” Cowboy State Daily reported, citing a probable cause affidavit. She also allegedly commented that the resident’s hair was “matted and smelt.”
Before leaving the room, Cross reportedly asked if the resident’s hair had become “tangled again on her bed,” claiming it had been “getting tangled throughout the night.”
In an interview with police the following day, Cross allegedly claimed she only used the scarf to tie the resident’s hair into a ponytail, but noted that when she came back to check on the patient later, the scarf had “fallen and wrapped around the bed.”
“Morning staff came in and she told them about the scarf and how it had gotten wrapped around the corner of the bed,” Cross told police, per the affidavit. “She believes that (the patient) was tossing her head side-to-side and the scarf got wrapped around again.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Cross confirmed that she was let go from the facility shortly after the incident, Oil City News reported.