Lewisburg caregiver pleads guilty after abandoning dependent patient for two days

Danielle Kitchens, 36, of Buffalo Road in Lewisburg, pleaded guilty in Union County Court to misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person after prosecutors said she left a patient alone for two days.

The plea on Thursday, April 10, 2026, closed out the criminal case at the misdemeanor level, but the facts behind it point to a deeper failure in the home-care safety net. Kitchens worked for Bayada Home Health Care in Williamsport, and the case centered on a vulnerable adult who depended on her for daily support.

The alarm was raised not by the agency, but by family. The patient’s daughter contacted Pennsylvania State Police after not hearing from her mother for several days and asked for a welfare check. Troopers arrived at the residence in Kelly Township on Aug. 20, 2025, at about 9:22 a.m. and found the victim in distress, in unsanitary conditions, and reportedly covered in feces and urine.

Kitchens, identified in additional reporting as Danielle Chane Kitchens, arrived at the same time as police. State police Trooper Conner Soo of the Milton barracks filed the charge in the Lewisburg office of District Judge Jeffrey Rowe. The home-health agency told police she had been scheduled to work on the two days before the welfare check and had clocked in on those dates, a detail that underscores how the breakdown was not caught by routine oversight.

That sequence matters for Union County families who rely on in-home care for aging parents, disabled relatives, or medically fragile adults. The first warning came from a daughter who knew something was wrong because she could not reach her mother. An affidavit also said a neighbor had checked on the victim, adding another layer of concern about how long the woman had gone without proper care.

Under Pennsylvania law, endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person is generally a misdemeanor of the second degree. A course of conduct can raise the charge to a third-degree felony, which is why the statute treats neglect of a dependent adult as a serious offense even when a plea is entered to a lesser count.

For families in Lewisburg, Kelly Township, Milton, and across Union County, the case is a stark reminder that home care depends on more than a schedule and a clock-in time. It depends on communication, follow-through, and a system that catches neglect before a welfare check becomes the only safeguard.