The conviction stems from investigations by the state attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which four years ago began prosecuting the little-used law against endangering the welfare of an incompetent person. John Billam-Walker, who was a job coach and caregiver for a mentally disabled 34-year-old man in 2005, was sentenced on July 2 to 120 days in prison after a jury found him guilty of the misdemeanor charge. Senaga said he was eventually diagnosed with anxiety disorder, which is similar to post-traumatic stress and resulted from the cumulative abuse from Billam-Walker. Endangering the welfare of an incompetent person occurs when someone “knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical or mental welfare” of someone unable to care for himself or herself. Because the law is very broad, Senaga said, many people may not outright know that insulting or being mean to a mentally disabled person is breaking the law. read more

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