Caretaker Loses Mentally Disabled Adult In Triangle: Police

TRIANGLE, VA—A woman was arrested Wednesday after leaving a mentally disabled adult for whom she was responsible unattended and then lying to officers after the adult wandered into a stranger's apartment in Triangle, according to Prince William County Police. Rhona Cermine Austin, 39, of the 18200 block of Kilmer Lane in Triangle, was charged with felony neglect of an incapacitated adult and obstruction of justice.

Shortly before 11:30 a.m., police responded to an apartment in the 18200 block of Kilmer Lane for a burglary in progress. A caller reported that an unknown woman who appeared to have an intellectual disability had entered the apartment and was eating ice cream from the freezer. When police confronted the woman, she was unable to tell them her identity.

Police canvassed the area and eventually found Austin, the woman's caretaker. They found that Austin had picked up the woman, 33, from a group home in Stafford and was supposed to have taken her to an undisclosed place in Prince William County. Instead, they wound up at Austin's apartment.

While Austin was in another room, the woman left the apartment and entered another apartment, where the resident contacted police. Austin, though, never called police and initially "provided false information when officers were interviewing her."

Photo: Prince William County Police