Residents At Senior Home Busted For Drug, Prostitution Charges
The biggest scandal to arise in a senior home is usually over an unscrupulous game of bridge but residents in a New Jersey senior center have seen their home taken over by drug and sex rings.
Two residents and a crossing guard at the Vincent K. Tibbs Senior Citizens Building in Englewood, NJ have been arrested on drug and prostitution charges after complaints from residents in the building about vagrants and drug addicts roaming the home turned into a full investigation by local police.
James Parham, 75, and Cheryl Chaney, 66, are now facing chargest for possessing drug paraphernalia and maintaining a "drug nuisance." A third suspect, Selma McDuffie, 54, a crossing guard at the facility has been charged for possessing a crack pipe and has since been removed from her position. Authorities have threatened McDuffie with arrest if she is ever seen on the premises again.
Additionally Parham has allegedly confessed to providing prostitutes for some of the residents at the Vincent K. Tibbs Center. Parham could face additional charges for prostitution, according to Englewood Police Chief Arthur O'Keefe.
The arrests came after an undercover sting in response to reports from residents about fears related to non-residents roaming the building, often inebriated by drugs or alcohol.
"Essentially they were prisoners in their own building," O'Keefe told the New Jersey Record. "I wasn't going to allow that to continue."
The Englewood Housing Authority manages the senior building and according to the housing director there, Parham and Chaney both underwent criminal background checks before they were invited to reside in the facility. The tests revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
"They came up absolutely clean," said Maria Iwano, executive director for the housing authority. "They had nothing to prevent us from putting them in the building."
Authorities say both Parham and Chaney are in the processing of being evicted from the building.
Parham is scheduled to appear in Municipal Court in Englewood on Wednesday over the chargest. Chaney and McDuffie have a court hearing slated for June 11th as a result of their own crimes.