EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

Joseph Mannino, a registered nurse who previously served three years in a North Carolina prison on an involuntary manslaughter conviction, was fired from his job at Lehigh Valley Hospital in 2008 for lying about his conviction status on his application for employment.  Time employed before the hospital found out: about three years.

Why did three years go by before his lie was discovered?  I have a better question.  Why didn’t the hospital learn of his conviction when they conducted the background check on him?  Better yet, how was he able to get a nursing license in the state of Pennsylvania?

If you guessed that both his nursing school and employer only conducted statewide criminal checks through the Pennsylvania State Police, you are spot on!

While the PA State Police criminal check may be a good tool to finding records in the state of Pennsylvania (but only as a supplement to a comprehensive countywide criminal search -remember!), it is definitely not a good source for any records maintained beyond its borders.  His school and employer make the argument that he met the two year residency requirement so that is why the statewide search was conducted.  In no way is that a legitimate excuse for not knowing about the conviction!  Convicted felons should not get a pass just because they meet some arbitrary residency requirement.  This is a person who was employed to care for vulnerable people, had access to controlled substances and sensitive personal  information.  The bottom line is that his employer should have been aware of his criminal past prior to making the hiring decision.  Conducting a thorough criminal search in all of the places your applicant has lived and worked (as far back as you can go) is the best way to find out who you are really employing.

Convicted Killer Hired As Nurse

By Bo Koltnow, WFMZ-TV – March 15, 2010

SALISBURY TWP., Pa. — A convicted killer landed a nursing job and years went by before he was outed.  

By all accounts, Joseph Mannino of Palmer Township, Northampton County was a good employee when he worked as a nurse for Lehigh Valley Hospital.

But in 2008, he had his nursing license revoked and was fired for lying on his job application.  

The lie? Not being a convicted felon.  

Lehigh Valley Hospital said it never would have hired Mannino in 2005 if it knew then what it knows now. 

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A Florida water park employee has been accused of molesting 3 girls.  That sentence is disturbing enough but what is even more disturbing is the fact that the employee was a Registered Sex Offender.  The company that hired the accused man ran a background check on him.  The background check was a search of the state sex offender database and local arrest history.  If the company had run a comprehensive background check, they would know that he had been convicted of sexual battery in 2003.  Who knows, maybe even a quick check of the iPhone sex offender locator would have prevented him from being hired.

Broward County investigating how sex offender got job at Deerfield park

More girls accuse Deerfield park attendant of molesting them

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According to the Evening Sun:

CLEARING THE RECORD: Certain former offenders who remain crime-free for several years would have a chance to clear their criminal records under a bill passed 198-1 by the House.

The bill would apply to people who have committed summary offenses, second-degree misdemeanors under the age of 25, and third-degree misdemeanors. They would be allowed ask county courts to expunge their records within 5 to 10 years after their release, depending on the nature of the offense.

Under current law, offenses can only be expunged from the criminal records of people who have been dead for three years or who have reached the age of 70 after spending 10 years crime-free following their last confinement or supervision. The measure goes to the Senate, which passed a measure in April to allow the expungement of summary offenses only. (House Bill 1543)

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We have written about the Texas DPS (Department of Public Safety) database before, things have not improved.  Long considered “one of the best…of the worst”, the Texas Statewide Criminal Database is full of holes.  These holes are critical because many industries are required by Texas law to use this system.  What does this mean to residents in Texas?  Teachers, Politicians, Nurses, Doctors etc. are checked through an inadequate system of obtaining criminal records. You have to see the percentages in this article, it will blow your mind.

the Department of Public Safety says counties in the most recent assessment submitted outcomes on just 69 percent of criminal charges

69 Percent, are you kidding me? I realize that in Baseball, failing seven out of ten times means you are an All-Star.  In the world of criminal records even 99 Percent is not good enough.  Fortunately there are some companies in Texas that utilize best practices and do more than just a DPS search.  We have hundreds of clients in Texas and most use a countywide criminal search in addition to the DPS.  If you are relying solely on this system, you must read on!

Counties Fail to Update Cases in Texas’ Crime Database

11:28 PM CDT on Thursday, August 21, 2008

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – The state’s criminal database, riddled with holes four years ago, has just as many gaps today.

Although officials in Dallas and other poorly reporting counties promised in 2004 to do better, the Department of Public Safety says counties in the most recent assessment submitted outcomes on just 69 percent of criminal charges – the same percentage as before.

“That’s astonishing. That’s leaving a substantial total number of criminals unreported in the system,” said John Bradley, Williamson County district attorney. “That’s the biggest threat to public safety that you can imagine, particularly in a post-9/11 time when we rely on databases to protect the public.”

Angie Klein, manager of the DPS criminal history records bureau, attributed the counties’ lack of progress to slow resolution of many felony cases, and glitches in big urban counties, which can bring down statewide compliance rates.

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