Arrest of former senior living executive director raises concerns for family
by: Zaneta Lowe
COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — The former executive director of a senior living community in Collierville who was accused of stealing from a resident heads to court in two weeks.
Timothy Johnson’s arrest led a former resident’s family to contact WREG to share their story and a warning.
Former director at senior-living facility charged with theft, burglary
84-year-old Charlotte Snider spent a career caring for others.
“She’s a wonderful, wonderful lady. She was a 50-plus-year registered nurse, retired from hospital in Nashville, lived in Nashville, and then her health started declining very rapidly and by very rapidly, she almost died,” said Charlotte’s son Kevin Snider.
Charlotte survived, but her son Kevin Snider is now raising serious questions about the place the family moved his mom to, where they thought she’d spend the rest of her golden years.
Snider said to WREG, “That’s why I wanted to go public about it, because once this guy got arrested, I knew this situation, which is bigger than my mom.”
The “guy” Snider is referring to is Timothy Johnson. He’s the now former Executive Director at StoryPoint Collierville, the same place Snider’s mom Charlotte lived for more than three years until he says things took a turn for the worse in more ways than one.
Johnson is accused of stealing $30,000 worth of jewelry and cash from a resident. Police say he used a key that allowed him to access every unit in the building to get into the woman’s room while she was out of town.
Snider learned of Johnson’s arrest on WREG.
“I was like, local executive director arrested for stealing, and I was like, no. So that I click on it, you know, as everybody does, and I was like, no way. Same facility, same guy dealt I dealt with,” said Snider.
He continued, “It begs the question of what in the hell is going on out there because you’ve got this facility, I mean, my issues are completely separate and distinct from what he was has been criminally charged with, but if I’m dealing with this guy and dealing with all these other issues.”
Johnson’s charges came just days after Snider was awarded a $25,000 judgment in one lawsuit against StoryPoint Collierville and a settlement for the same amount in another.
Johnson sued the facility and its parent company in Shelby County General Sessions Court after what he says was an unauthorized charge to his bank account.
“They took almost $4,000 on an automatic what’s called an ACH withdrawal out of my personal checking account to pay on my mom’s bill. Not only did I not authorize it, she didn’t even use electronic banking, outside of the fact it’s my account, not her account,” explained Snider.
The other suit was filed on behalf of Snider’s mother, Charlotte.
Snider said he wanted a refund of some, but not all of the money she paid, “because certainly, I mean, she paid them a ridiculous amount of money.”
He said she paid $5,000 to $6,000 a month, on average.
Snider wanted that money back because, according to the claims laid out in the suit, his mother wasn’t getting what she paid for, which was care at an assisted living facility.
He told WREG, “That’s what they advertised. We provide, we’re a licensed assisted living facility. We’ve got a doctor here on staff that comes around. We’ve got nurses on staff, and it wasn’t just an assumption, that’s specifically what they told us. That’s what their Google ads had.”
WREG asked Snider what his initial reaction was after learning StoryPoint Collierville was not a licensed assisted living facility. He responded, “My initial thought was, how dare you? How dare you lie and misrepresent yourself to senior citizens and families of senior citizens who rely upon them.”
Immediately after Johnson’s arrest, our team started digging into StoryPoint’s background. The WREG Investigators searched for state licensing records in several categories and didn’t find anything, so we reached out to state regulators.
A spokesperson with the Health Facilities Commission said by email, “We have no record of a licensed facility at this address.”
When the NewsChannel 3 Investigators followed up with additional questions about if the facility needed a license based on what was being alleged, as well as asked if the HFC had launched its own investigation after Johnson’s arrest and the spokesperson said, “I am not able to comment more about this unlicensed facility.”
WREG visited StoryPoint Collierville to see if we could get some answers.
The NewsChannel 3 Investigators spoke to a StoryPoint Executive who said he was serving at the facility on an interim basis and helping to find Johnson’s replacement.
“To be quite honest with you I want to stay out of it, I don’t know the guy and I’m just here just to make sure the community is back to normal,” said Jordan Skaltsas, whose name tag read “Operations Specialist.”
Skaltsas continued, “And all I would say on my side is just, on my side, is, it’s very as an Executive Director, it’s very disappointing. It’s very disappointing that, we spend so much time with everybody, I spend more time with these seniors than I do with my own family, so it’s just disappointing.”
Skaltsas did take a moment to answer some of WREG’s questions about StoryPoint Collierville and the services it provides. He said that the facility is independent and enhanced living. Those phrases are also on the website for the senior living community.
When inquiring about the medical care residents pay for, the StoryPoint executive explained that is provided by a third party housed in the building. “They are caregivers. They are licensed with the state, but they are not like CNAs or nurses, they’re just caregivers.”
Skaltsas said care can include what are called medication cues, but caregivers are not licensed to administer medication.
Snider told WREG about a conversation he had with StoryPoint Collierville as things came to a head: “I’m paying, or my mom is paying hundreds of dollars a month to make sure she gets her medication and basically all you do is send a person in there with a cup, set it on the table and leave. He goes, ‘Yeah, pretty much.’”
WREG asked, “And who are you speaking to when you were having this conversation?”
Snider responded, “The executive director, Mr. Timothy Johnson.”
Snider shared pictures with NewsChannel 3, also included in his legal filings, showing what he said was months of his mom’s medication they found all over her room when she moved out.
According to Snider’s demand letter and later the lawsuit, Johnson admitted employees were previously “improperly representing” StoryPoint Collierville. Snider also said Johnson is the one who told him to move his mother to licensed assisted living, which would be “less expensive.”
That however, was the type of care Snider, who is a Consumer Protection Attorney, thought his elderly mother was already getting.
He said, “It breaks my heart because I do this for a living and I should have caught this sooner.”
Charlotte Snider moved to an assisted living facility and Snider says she’s now in hospice care. The family is enjoying what could be her final days and at the same time, Snider is warning others about his concerns regarding StoryPoint Collierville. He thinks watchdogs should step in.
“If you have a family member there or if you’re resident there, look at what’s going on. Make sure you’re getting what you were promised. Secondly, I’d like to bring, because I didn’t realize this was such a problem as a consumer protection attorney, other facilities, people need to be on the lookout for this, spend more time checking things out, paying close attention to your loved ones,” he said.
Snider added, “Third, I would love to see the state come in and open an investigation into this.”
Lori Walsh is a Policy Program Specialist with the National Consumer Voice for Long-Term Care. It’s a non-profit advocacy group that helps residents and family members. Walsh talked with WREG about steps families can take when choosing any type of long term care.
“Doing your homework I think is the most important thing,” said Walsh.
Walsh says they encourage families to visit facilities, find out who owns its and search for licensing information.
For example, nursing homes are regulated by the federal government and information can be found in various places like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Meanwhile, other types of care such as assisted living, are regulated by the state government.
In Tennessee, families can find information on licensing and if a facility has faced any type of disciplinary action in the past.
Walsh told WREG the best place to start is by making a call to the Long Term Care Ombudsman who often has a pulse on the finger of their service area.
“You want to be contacting people like the local ombudsman who can give you objective, neutral information about the facility and…you want to be gathering a lot of information or as much information as you can about that facility to make sure that it’s a good fit for, you know, your loved one.”
StoryPoint sent WREG a statement regarding Johnson’s arrest but didn’t answer any additional questions.
“Due to the active investigation into this matter, StoryPoint Collierville is unable to comment on the specific details. The safety, well-being, and peace of mind of our residents remain our top priority and the foundation of everything we do.” ––Irina Olgart, VP of Marketing
StoryPoint has two licensed, assisted living facilities in the area, StoryPoint Cordova and StoryPoint Germantown, both of which faced violations and fines last year.
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