мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼

The prior arrest raises the question of how Kelly Churney, 46, was able to maintain her practical nursing license and continue working in health care.

According to Auburn City Court filings obtained by мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼, Churney was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny in May after the Auburn Police Department investigated a 2023 complaint by a resident at The Commons on St. Anthony in the city about their debit cards being used without their knowledge.

The cards were used to spend a total of $1,425 on medical scrubs, Detective Michael Weeks said in the filings. One $450 purchase was made the same day the resident was admitted to The Commons, and Assistant Director of Nursing Rebecca Starling confirmed in the filings that Churney had contact with the resident that day.

Churney used the email and physical addresses of family members to place and receive the orders, according to the filings, and even a woman who dated her son.

A relative of the Commons resident said in the filings that while they received reimbursement, they suffered hardship in trying to obtain it and having to cancel their accounts. The resident has dementia. 

Kathleen White, marketing and public relations manager for The Commons operator Loretto, told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ in an email that Churney's arrest is being investigated by the state Department of Health and "we are fully cooperating." The nursing home "immediately followed protocols to report (the theft) and terminate her employment," she added.

White did not respond to a follow-up question about what steps, if any, were taken by the nursing home to report Churney's arrest to the state Department of Education, which issues nursing licenses. According to the , Churney's practical nursing license is still active and has no enforcement actions listed.

White also did not respond to a follow-up question about how Churney was hired by The Commons despite being arrested for petit larceny by Auburn police in 2019 and 2021. She was  for the same crime by New York State Police in 2018 after stealing an iPhone from the purse of a patient at a DeWitt doctor's office while they were using the bathroom.

Churney received conditional discharge orders for both Auburn convictions. The 2021 order required her to perform 40 hours of community service and send an apology to Tops Friendly Markets. 

Despite those three petit larceny arrests and recent grand larceny arrest, however, Churney was assigned in October to work as a travel nurse at Upstate Community Hospital in Syracuse.

As reported by мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼, Churney was found by police last month in possession of multiple credit cards belonging to current and former patients at the hospital. She was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and first-degree identity theft by the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office.

Churney was assigned to work at the hospital by a temporary staffing agency. SUNY Upstate Medical University is now investigating the matter with the agency, said Kathleen Froio, the university's director of public and media relations, in an email to мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼. Froio did not respond to a follow-up question asking for the name of the agency. 

"We require all our agencies to conduct criminal background checks for temporary staff," Froio said.

Churney's ability to continue working despite her arrests may be explained by a the country has been experiencing in recent years, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors caused the number of registered nurses in the workforce to drop by more than 100,000 from 2020 to 2021, the biggest drop in 40 years.