HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a Lawrence County jury convicted a personal care administrator for failing to renew a resident’s medications, which led to a fatal seizure in 2021.
Kelly R. Gonzales, 50, of New Castle, was convicted Tuesday of neglect of a care-dependent person and endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person — both felonies.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 21.
“Those who make the commitment to care for our most vulnerable residents take on a serious responsibility, and this defendant’s failure to fulfill that duty was catastrophic,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Perhaps what is most tragic about this case is that the loss of life was preventable.”
Gonzales was the administrator at ARC, a personal care home in New Castle, where she was tasked with management of residents’ care. Those duties included making sure residents received their prescribed medication in a timely manner. The victim was a resident prescribed anti-seizure medication.
According to evidence presented by the Office of Attorney General, Gonzales did not fill the prescription or instruct colleagues to do so, knowing the prescription had run out. Further testimony revealed that two of Gonzales’ colleagues instructed her to take the resident to the emergency room to have his medication filled, but she never did.
The resident died at the care home on Dec. 2, 2021, after not receiving his medication for over 10 days.
This case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Christopher R. Sherwood and Deputy Attorney General Peter Caravello.
The Pennsylvania Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $13,491,632 for federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $4,497,207 for FY 2026, is funded by Pennsylvania.
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