Nurse gets probation for stealing, cashing checks

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GREENFIELD — A home health nurse who admitted to stealing clients’ checks in order to cash them at a local grocery store will spend three years on probation as punishment.

But Dominique D. Johns, 24, of Greenfield, can still work in the home-healthcare field while she’s serving her sentence, as long as her probation officer approves the position, a judge ordered this week.

Johns was arrested in December on four Level 6 felony counts of forgery, one count of attempted forgery as a Level 6 felony and one count of fraud on a financial institution as a Level 5 felony.

She recently pleaded guilty as charged and appeared in Hancock Circuit Court on Wednesday morning for sentencing.

Court Commissioner Cody Coombs ordered Johns to serve three years on probation, the first year of which will be spent on work release and home detention.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to ban Johns from working in health care for the duration of her sentence.

But Johns’ defense attorney argued such a decision would deprive Johns of her livelihood. He asked that Johns be allowed to work in the field at her probation officer’s discretion, and the judge agreed.

Three families came forward last year to accuse Johns of stealing from them, according to court documents.

Johns was employed with an in-home healthcare company, and each family had contracted with the company to assign a nurse to care for their ailing loved ones.

One woman told police Johns stole and forged her husband’s signature on nine checks taken from their home, court records state. The checks were written to and cashed at the Walmart on State Street, totaling more than $2,000, according to court documents.

Another of Johns’ patients said Johns stole a check from his family and used it to go shopping while still in her scrubs, according to court documents.

Johns spent about $640 at Walmart and paid using the second victim’s stolen check. Security cameras from inside the store showed Johns standing in a checkout line while wearing butterfly-patterned scrubs, court documents state.

A third victim told police Johns had cashed a $350 check written from her account. A few days later, Johns admitted to the family that she’d stolen the check, and she gave them most of the money back, according to police.

Johns was arrested in December when she attempted to cash a check for $800 written to her from one of the victim’s checking accounts, which had been closed, leading bank employees to alert other banks in the area. When Johns attempted to cash the check at a different bank, police were called, court documents state.

Johns pleaded guilty in June.

During a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Marie Castetter asked the judge to send the woman to the Department of Correction as punishment for her crimes.

She’d violated a position of trust and preyed upon people who couldn’t care for themselves, Castetter said.

But Christopher Isom of Greenfield, Johns’ defense attorney, argued for leniency.

Johns had fallen on hard times, was stealing to get by and to support her family, he said. She’d since turned to relatives for help, and now won’t be tempted to make the same error in judgment again, Isom said.

Johns is still working as a home healthcare nurse for a single client, who is aware of the criminal proceedings, Isom said. Taking the ability to work away would only add to her hardship, he said.

Mary Kay Dobbs, a local probation officer who was in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing, told the judge the department wasn’t likely to approve any jobs Johns takes in the health care field due to the nature of the crime the woman committed.

Still, Coombs said he would give the probation department the power to decide.

Johns’ sentence totals three years. The first eight months will be spent in work release, followed by four months on home detention. If Johns violates her probation, she will be sent to prison.