FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced today that Howard County Circuit Court Judge Stephanie Porter sentenced former caregiver Asia Monet Williams, 28, of Baltimore, to 10 years of incarceration, suspending all but six months (time served) for abuse of a vulnerable adult in her care. Williams was also placed on three years of supervised probation and is prohibited from providing healthcare services to vulnerable adults during the probationary period. This was Williams’s second trial in this matter. She was previously convicted of abuse of a vulnerable adult, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the case was remanded for a new trial.
“Vulnerable adults deserve to be treated with dignity and cared for with compassion, not abused by the very people entrusted to protect them,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office will always stand up for vulnerable Marylanders and hold accountable anyone who commits this unacceptable conduct.”
Williams pleaded guilty to second‑degree assault for abusing a 21‑year‑old intellectually disabled adult with autism and significant medical needs. On Saturday, April 2, 2023, Williams was working as an overnight direct support professional at the victim’s home, located in Ellicott City and managed by the Linwood Center, a non-profit that provides residential services and education programs to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Video evidence captured key portions of the assault. The recording shows that while Williams was out of the room for an extended period, the victim disrobed and ran out of the apartment. The footage then shows Williams exiting the bathroom, discovering that the victim was gone, and leaving the apartment. Moments later, the victim is seen running back into the apartment and sitting on the couch. Williams re‑enters, pulls the victim off the couch, and orders her to go to her room “so I can beat your [expletive].” The video depicts Williams dragging the victim first by her feet and then by her arms and kicking the victim on her bare buttocks as she forces her toward the bedroom. Although the camera did not capture what occurred inside the bedroom, audio recorded Williams shouting obscenities at the victim, followed by two loud thumps before Williams is seen exiting the bedroom.
The following morning, the victim reported to her teacher that her back hurt and that Williams had called her an expletive and pulled her down the stairs by her hair. The school nurse examined the victim and found that the victim’s scalp was red and a small patch of hair was missing, as well as bruising, and abrasions on the victim’s arms, back, buttocks and knees.
In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Brown thanked Director of the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit Zak Shirley, Assistant Attorneys General Catherine Schuster Pascale and Kelly A. Casper, and Senior Investigator Gordon Carew.
If you suspect abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, you can contact the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit at 410-576-6521. You can also email [https://%22/][email protected] and one of our investigators will follow up with you.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $7,119,096 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,373,032 for FY 2026, is funded by the State of Maryland.
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