BIG RUN, Pa. (EYT) – A Big Run woman has been charged with neglect after allegedly abandoning her care-dependent mother and failing to provide her with food and medication.
According to court documents, Punxsutawney-based State Police filed the following charge against 33-year-old Tiffany Hope Hartle:
– Endangers Welfare of Care-Dependent Person For Whom He/She Is Responsible, Misdemeanor 2
According to a criminal complaint recently filed through Magisterial District Judge David B Inzana’s office, Tiffany Hartle called State Police in Punxsutawney around 4:44 p.m. on January 16 for a welfare check on her mother at their residence on Smyers Street, in Big Run Borough, Jefferson County.
Upon arrival around 5:10 p.m. on January 16, troopers heard a female inside the residence repeatedly screaming “help me.” The front door was unlocked, and the responding officers opened the door and observed a woman lying in her medical bed located in an open room next to the living room, according to the complaint.
The woman was “frantic stating her leg was hurting from hanging off the bed,” and troopers helped her lift her leg back on the bed, the complaint notes.
As she calmed down, the woman asked for water and then told officers that Tiffany Hartle is her caretaker and had left the day before, after an argument, the complaint states.
The woman stated that Hartle said she would not give her medications. She added that Hartle told her “(expletive). Go to ****. I don’t want to take care of you,” before she left the residence, the complaint notes.
The woman also told officers she had not taken any of her prescribed medications or eaten/drank anything for the past two days, according to the complaint.
Jefferson County EMS transported the victim to the hospital around 5:55 p.m. on January 16.
Charges were filed against Hartle in Magisterial District Judge David B. Inzana’s office on January 19, 2022.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 10 at 12:00 p.m. with Judge Inzana presiding.