East Williston woman arraigned for giving false docs

Noah Manskar

An East Williston woman was arraigned last Friday for allegedly lying about a disabled patient’s care at the Woodmere nursing home where she worked.

Riadel Manzano, 44, surrendered her passport after pleading not guilty April 1 to charges of offering a false instrument in the first degree and tampering with evidence for allegedly giving falsified documents during a 2012 state Department of Health investigation.

“Licensed health care professionals have a solemn responsibility to ensure that their patients are properly cared for,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “My office won’t tolerate those who endanger the well-being of some of our most vulnerable citizens, or those who attempt to cover up abuse and neglect.”

Manzano was director of nursing services at Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center when the Department of Health was investigating a complaint there, the attorney general’s office said.

During the investigation, she allegedly gave the investigator falsified resident monitoring records saying staff had checked on a patient every 30 minutes when Manzano knew they had not, the attorney general’s office said.

A doctor had ordered the patient to be monitored regularly because he had previously fallen multiple times and injured himself, the attorney general’s office said.

Schneiderman’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit arrested Manzano on June 10, 2015, and a Nassau County grand jury indicted her March 22.

Alex Bateman, Manzano’s Uniondale-based attorney, said she maintains her innocence and is prepared to go to trial.

“Unfortunately it looks like some other people may have taken it upon themselves to alter some records, but any allegations that Ms. Manzano directed them to do that are just patently false,” Bateman said.

Bateman said Manzano is no longer employed with Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. She is due back in court before Judge Meryl Berkowitz on May 13.

Three other defendants have pleaded guilty to charges related to the incident, the attorney general’s office said.

A Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center official did not return a request for comment.

Share this Article