As the case against Andrea Bowling of Elkland is developing, the agency who hired her is telling the media that her previous criminal record simply did not show up when they did their background check. The reason for the missing information is that the records of Bowling’s past were not meant to be public. As of now, Bowling is facing charges of property damage and theft and has had her nursing license placed on probation because of a home video from a Springfield homeowner, which they say shows Bowling going into a locked closet that had pain medication in it. The video was used to bring up charges against her.
Back in 1996, Bowling pleaded guilty when brought up on charges of stealing (that is according to records from the Greene County court). As a result of the case, Bowling received a sentence of five years’ probation. When asked about the background checks procedure, Lt. John Hotz from the state’s highway patrol told media sources that any information given by the Highway Patrol to the DHSS was in fact accurate. According to the background report, nothing was reported by the Highway Patrol during the background check.
Ursula Gorman, who is part of the human resources management team for the company Bowling worked for, Phoenix Home Health Care, told journalists that the state patrol in Missouri advised her that the criminal record for the accused should not have been public. The state’s Highway Patrol is the agency that provides the information required for state background checks, which are done by the DHSS or Department of Health and Senior Services.
The issue at hand was that according to Gorman, the records from the court became sealed once Bowling's five year probation was over. When the previous charges were filed, she was not yet a nurse. The file was then closed in 2002, which meant they would not be shown in a background check.
Because of the new case, some news sources have been able to compare the clean background checks and the criminal record for Ms. Bowling, but at the moment, both the accused as well as her attorney have not commented. The video at the center of the case was filmed back in October of 2011, and the camera is also an alarm clock, which is what allows it to be almost undetectable. The reason the video was even made was because the homeowner, Tawanna Carpenter from Springfield started to get suspicious after some of the pain medication used by her son started to go missing.
Carpenter’s son Kenneth has been receiving home care due to an accident in July of 2009, which left him with brain injuries as a result. The accident took place on Hwy 60 of that year. Since then, he has been on pain medication, including hydrocodone, a prescription medication which has the potential of becoming addictive and is used for treating pain. As a result of the theft of this medication, Phoenix Home Health Care fired Andrea Bowling and also filed a report with the state’s Board of Nursing.
Most state health agencies are demanding that home care agencies require background checks of their employees. If you run a home care agency, you can team up with backgroundchecks.com to get instant screening services like their US OneSEARCH tool. This will let you know about any convictions an applicant has in any one of the 50 states. You can also use their Education Verification tool, to make sure your healthcare personnel have the required medical degrees required for the job.
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Author: Michael Klazema
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Michael Klazema is the lead author and editor for Dallas-based backgroundchecks.com with a focus on human resource and employment screening developments
