Former Direct Support Professional Sentenced For Financial Exploitation of Three District Vulnerable Adults

            WASHINGTON –Joseph Oluwatobi Adebanwo, 26, of Laurel, Maryland, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today to 90 days in prison, suspended, three years of probation and $1,700 restitution on one misdemeanor count of exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Inspector General for the District of Columbia Daniel W. Lucas.

            According to the information presented in court, Adebanwo admitted that on or about July 29, 2021, while employed as a Direct Support Professional for the Community Living Services Program at the National Children’s Center (NCC), he made three separate ATM withdrawals totaling $1,700 dollars from the bank accounts of three vulnerable adults under NCC’s care.  The funds in the victims’ bank accounts were intended to support their personal needs.  Adebanwo did so without the victims’ knowledge and used the monies for his own benefit.  Upon discovery, NCC reimbursed the victims’ bank accounts, leaving it at a financial loss.

            Adebanwo entered his guilty plea in the U.S. Superior Court for the District of Columbia and was sentenced by the Honorable Peter Krauthamer.

            This matter was initially reported to the District’s Department of Disability Services and subsequently investigated by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Financial and Cyber Crimes Unit. In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Inspector General Lucas commended the work of those who investigated and prosecuted the case from the Office of Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Major Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the Metropolitan Police Department.  They also acknowledged the efforts of Special Assistant United States Attorney Jason Facci, on detail from the Office of the Inspector General, who prosecuted the case.