Inset: Julie Ann Cross (Casper Police Dept.). Background: The NOWCAP facility in Wyoming where Cross allegedly tied a resident to their bed (Google Maps).
A 50-year-old woman employed at a nursing home in Wyoming is accused of abusing one of her patients, allegedly using a silk scarf to tie a patient's head to her bed to prevent the victim from moving.
Julie Ann Cross is currently facing one count of felony intentional abuse, neglect or abandonment of a vulnerable adult and one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment.
Cross appeared in Natrona County District Court on Thursday where she pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a report from Cowboy State Daily. County District Court Judge Catherine Wilking ordered her to be released on a personal recognizance bond of $5,000.
The incident allegedly took place at a Nowcap residential facility in the 300 block of North Walsh Avenue in the early morning hours of July 14. An officer with the Casper Police Department responded to a 911 call after one of Cross' co-workers said they came in for the morning shift and discovered a 53-year-old woman in bed with her head tied down to stop her from getting up or moving her head throughout the evening.
The employee was a morning shift manager who realized what was going on when he tried to roll the resident over in bed and saw the blue scarf connected her hair to the bed, pinning her down, Oil City News reported. Another employee took several photos of the knot Cross allegedly used, which they told police took at least five minutes to disentangle.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
While the two employees were trying to assist the resident, Cross, who had been the only person responsible for the resident during the night shift that evening, allegedly came into the room and attempted to push one of her co-workers before trying to grab the blue scarf.
When one of the co-workers asked Cross why she had tied the resident's head down, Cross allegedly replied, "It was to keep [the resident] from moving," Cowboy State Daily reported, citing a probable cause affidavit. She also allegedly commented that the resident's hair was "matted and smelt."
Before leaving the room, Cross reportedly asked if the resident's hair had become "tangled again on her bed," claiming it had been "getting tangled throughout the night."
In an interview with police the following day, Cross allegedly claimed she only used the scarf to tie the resident's hair into a ponytail, but noted that when she came back to check on the patient later, the scarf had "fallen and wrapped around the bed."
"Morning staff came in and she told them about the scarf and how it had gotten wrapped around the corner of the bed," Cross told police, per the affidavit. "She believes that (the patient) was tossing her head side-to-side and the scarf got wrapped around again."
During Thursday's hearing, Cross confirmed that she was let go from the facility shortly after the incident, Oil City News reported.
Follow Law&Crime:
