Nursing Assistant Defrauded Client Of $15K: Dept. Of Health

TACOMA, WA - For allegedly defrauding an 85-year-old of nearly $15,000 while she was supposed to provide caregiving services, a 35-year-old nursing assistant lost her license for at least five years. The Washington Department of Health on Tuesday announced its decision to suspend the license of Ashley Marie Vaillant, though the official decision to do so occurred in March.

According to the Department of Health, while providing caregiving services for a Seattle resident, Vaillant used her client's credit card without permission to rack up $14,757 in fraudulent charges.

Vaillant in May 2018 reportedly failed to respond to an inquiry by the Department of Social Services' (DSHS) Adult Protective Services (APS) that raised questions about whether Vaillant used her client's credit card to make unauthorized purchases. Vaillant was given a timeframe to respond, but she reportedly did not.

By June 2018, APS officials successfully substantiated the accusation against Vaillant and moved forward with its issuance of an outcome report on the investigation's findings. On July 9, DSHS placed Vaillant on its "long-term care abuse and neglect registry," which prohibits Vaillant from being employed "in the care of and having unsupervised access to vulnerable adults."

In February 2019, the State Secretary of Health sent to Vaillant at her most recent address in Tacoma a variety of legal documents outlining the APS' findings, as well as Vaillant's legal rights and obligations. Again Vaillant failed to respond within the allotted time frame, leaving the Department of Health no other option than to suspend her license based on an abuse of trust, the vulnerability of the victim involved, and her contributing to the ill-repute of the profession, officials said.

Vaillant was certified as a nursing assistant in Washington in February 2015. A records search in both Pierce and King counties did not find any criminal charges ever filed against Vaillant in this case.

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The Department of Health's statement of charges can be found here:

Dept. Health Statement of C... by on Scribd