Nursing home employee tied patient’s head to bed
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 who worked at a Wyoming nursing home is facing criminal charges after allegedly restraining a patient with a silk scarf.
Julie Ann Cross has been charged with one count of felony intentional abuse, neglect, or abandonment of a vulnerable adult, and one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment. She appeared in Natrona County District Court on Thursday, pleading not guilty to the charges. Judge Catherine Wilking set her release on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
According to authorities, the incident occurred at a Nowcap residential facility on North Walsh Avenue in Casper during the early hours of July 14. Police were called after a morning-shift employee discovered a 53-year-old resident with her head tied to the bed with a blue scarf, preventing her from moving.
The employee, who was a morning-shift manager, noticed the restraint while attempting to help the resident and called for assistance. Another staff member documented the situation with photographs, showing a knot that reportedly took at least five minutes to untangle. Cross, who had been responsible for the resident during the previous night shift, allegedly returned to the room and attempted to push one employee while reaching for the scarf.
According to a probable cause affidavit, when asked why she tied the resident’s head down, Cross said it was “to keep [the resident] from moving” and commented that the resident’s hair was “matted and smelt.” She also reportedly asked whether the hair had become “tangled again on her bed” before leaving the room.
In a police interview the following day, Cross claimed she had intended only to tie the resident’s hair into a ponytail and that the scarf had “fallen and wrapped around the bed.” She explained that the patient had been moving her head, causing the scarf to become entangled.
Cross confirmed during the court hearing that she was terminated from the facility shortly after the incident.
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