MELBOURNE, Fla. (Court TV) — Two healthcare workers in Florida are facing a number of charges after investigators say they livestreamed themselves abusing an elderly woman in their care over social media.
Jada Ari’ana Harris, 18, and Shy’Tiona J. Bishop, 20, were arrested and charged with video voyeurism and abuse and neglect of an elderly person after an anonymous citizen recorded video clips of the livestream and shared them with police.
Jada Harris (left) and Shy’Tiona Bishop (right) are charged with video voyeurism and abuse and neglect of an elderly person. (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)
“I’m pretty ticked off about this, as you can tell,” Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey held a news conference on April 7 announcing the arrests. “This kind of crap just drives me insane.”
“Abusing someone — an elderly person — or abusing anyone is disgusting enough, but to make matters even worse, they livestreamed it.”
In arrest affidavits obtained by Court TV, detectives say Harris and Bishop started livestreaming on SnapChat just after 9:45 p.m. on April 3. The clips show the two women “locked inside the bathroom, leaving (the victim) by herself in her room unattended. (The victim) is actively pulling and banging on the door while Harris addresses her live feed and states ‘this is what I go through every single night.'”
Screenshot from a livestream on SnapChat that allegedly showed elder abuse. (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)
Another clip shows the victim walking around half naked, as the two women attempt to secure a diaper onto her. The victim, who was diagnosed with dementia, diabetes type II and fibromyalgia, requires full-time care at the facility where the suspects work.
“I’ll be honest with you: I wouldn’t let them care for a pet cobra, because he might bite them and he might accidentally die of scumbag poisoning,” Ivey said.
Detectives say the women read comments from their friends during the livestream, which included suggestions to lock the victim in a closet.
After their arrest, the two women were taken to the Brevard County Jail.
“My only hope is that these two live long enough in life — I doubt it, as stupid as they are, I don’t know they’ll make it that far — but if they do, I hope someone pays it forward in response to their actions of how they treated this lady, because it is truly disgusting,” Ivey said.
