Mentally ill robbed of more than 50G

The owner of a Germantown personal-care home was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office yesterday with stealing $50,472 in federal benefits checks intended for 11 mentally and physically disabled residents.

Authorities said that Lamunda Nichols, 50, of Limekiln Pike near Wyncote Avenue, West Oak Lane, had authority to manage a beneficiary's funds so that the person had adequate food, clothing and shelter.

Instead, the feds said that Nichols took beneficiaries' checks, endorsed them - often by forging signatures - and then cashed them for herself.

Nichols ran Lamunda Manor, a personal-care home on Locust Avenue near Sprague Street.

The state Department of Public Welfare revoked her license to operate the home in Sept. 2007 and told her to stop operating as a personal-care home, the charging document said.

Her license was revoked based on infrequent laundering of residents' clothing and linens, loose handrails and metal fire escapes, shoddy furniture, dirty bathtubs and toilet seats, and the presence of flies and roaches, the feds said. Nichols' appeal was dismissed in Nov. 2007. Nevertheless, the feds said that Nichols operated the personal-care home from Nov. 2007 until last July, and at least 16 residents - all with disabilities - lived there for periods of time.

The residents, identified only by their initials, were "completely dependent" on Nichols for food, clothing and shelter, the feds said. Nichols failed to notify Social Security officials when 10 of the residents no longer resided in her facility or she was responsible for their care. She could face a year to more than two years behind bars under preliminary advisory sentencing guidelines.