ROCK ISLAND - A Moline widow and her attorney are suing a Quad City nursing home, two former employees, and one of their husbands for allegedly selling her house against her wishes and pocketing a profit.
Colleen Allen is suing St. Anthony's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rock Island, its former business office manager Staci Redman, its former social services director Tamsin Ramirez, and Ramirez's husband, Rick Rhoads.
Allen says she was "deceived" while a resident of St. Anthony's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rock Island, and told by Ramirez and Rhoads that she "had to sign the forms because she had to sell her residence in order to stay on Medicaid", and "could have $2,000 for her residence."
She says she repeatedly told them she did not want to sell her house.
She says she received $2,000, but later learned that Rhoads had sold her house to a third party for $95,000.
The civil lawsuit alleges financial exploitation of an elderly person, and says Rhoads, Ramirez, and Redman "intentionally and maliciously pursued a course of conduct in bad faith for the purpose of obtaining profit from Ms. Allen's property".
The suit is seeking damages in excess of $50,000.
Ramirez and Redman were both fired from the nursing home. The Illinois Department of Public Health fined St. Anthony's $2,200 for "allowing financial abuse."
Allen, who suffers from bi-polar disorder and congestive heart failure ,still lives at the nursing home. A hearing has been set for July.
No criminal charges have been filed.