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TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a certified nursing assistant has pleaded no contest to charges that she abused a mentally and physically disabled resident of a Pensacola nursing home. Valerie Hartley was sentenced today to one year in jail for repeatedly striking the victim. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office under the authority of the State Attorney's Office for the First Judicial Circuit.

Hartley, 23, was taken into custody in early October based on allegations that she physically abused a disabled nursing home resident. Eyewitnesses informed investigators that at least one of the incidents took place in the residents’ dining room, where Hartley grabbed the woman and slapped her on one occasion. Hartley was also observed hitting the same victim in the back of the head with a shoe on another occasion. The arrest was made in October by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with assistance from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

Hartley was adjudicated guilty for the offenses charged and will serve one year in county jail. She must also pay more than $2,000 in court costs, fines and investigative fees. Under Florida law, she will be prohibited from working in the health care field. The sentence was handed down by Circuit Court Judge Linda Nobles.