Abuse

MOUNT DORA—A Leesburg woman was arrested Wednesday after an anonymous email was sent to her place of employment advising she was abusing an elderly patient and posting it on social media, according to an arrest affidavit.

Mount Dora Police Department responded to an assisted living facility in the city after an employee reported receiving the email that included a video posted to TikTok showing Gabriel V. Woods, 34, wearing a green work shirt and black pants, with “extremely distinct” gold and silver bracelets dancing to a song. The video was captioned “Nurse: The resident fell out of bed…Me: but this song hit I’ll pick her up in a min.”

The name of the facility is redacted from the affidavit.

The email also included a photo posted on Facebook of an arm with the same bracelets grabbing and twisting the lips of an 88-year-old dementia patient, according to the affidavit. The photo is captioned, “Twisting my Resident Lip Because Uon (Expletive) Before Shift Change.”

When Woods arrived at work Wednesday, MDPD questioned her and she admitted she was in the video and photo and the social media accounts belonged to her, the affidavit states. She said the video was not real and a there was no patient in need of assistance. She did admit to touching the woman in the photo, but said it was not forceful. She also told MDPD there no reason to touch the dementia patient’s mouth other than to make a post to gain social media likes.

Woods was arrested for abuse, aggravated abuse and neglect of an elderly person. She was transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $2,000 bond.