Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Police Investigate 'Swatting'

Authorities are investigating allegations of elderly abuse at a local nursing home.

According to Jim Westmoreland, criminal investigator with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office and Prescott Police Department, Robert Hardiman Jr., 31, of Prescott was arrested and charged with second degree battery Wednesday, Oct. 9.

Reports state Hardiman allegedly hit an 83-year-old resident of the Prescott Nursing Center on the buttocks with his open hand.

Westmoreland said the actual swat was witnessed by an employee, while other employees saw a red mark on the resident's left hip reportedly in the shape of a hand.

The incident occurred July 14, 1996, with officials from the PNC notifying the NCSO immediately. Westmoreland investigated the incident and turned the case over to the Attorney General's office.

Sean Mathis, assistant attorney general in the Medicaid fraud division's investigative section, also looked into the case and found abuse to have occurred.

Mathis returned his findings to the NCSO, with Westmoreland turning over the case file to deputy prosecuting attorney Danny Rodgers.

Hardiman was then arrested and charged with second degree battery, a class D felony. This is punishable by a prison sentence of up to six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections and a fine of no more than $10,000.

Westmoreland lauded officials with the PNC, saying they were prompt in notifying the NCSO, and assisted in every way possible.

Hardiman, however, has been released on a $5,000 bond.