BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Two South Florida caretakers are facing charges of false imprisonment and elderly abuse after one of them used duct tape to restrain a 67-year-old woman while the other failed to report it to anyone, police said.
Phygelle Brudent, 44, and Lashron Williams, 52, both of West Palm Beach, were arrested Thursday by Boynton Beach police.
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Police said Brudent and Williams were caretakers at Colonial Assisted Living at Boynton Beach when the July 3 incident took place.
According to an arrest report, Brudent admitted to police that she took the victim to another patient's room and tied her to a chair using pajama pants to wrap around her waist and duct tape to bind her hands and feet. The reports said Brudent also used duct tape around the woman's mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Police said the woman suffers from dementia.
Brudent told police, according to the report, she did it because she was "frustrated" that the woman wouldn't keep quiet when she had other patients to worry about.
Williams told police she saw the woman tied up in another patient's room and knew Brudent did it, but she never reported the incident to anyone. Williams said she removed the duct tape from the woman's mouth to give her sleeping pills and told Brudent what she did was wrong, the report said.
Allison Underwood, the quality assurance advisor for the facility, told Local10.com that the company is taking the allegations very seriously and is conducting an internal review. She said Brudent and Williams no longer work for the company.