2 suburban nursing home employees charged in death of resident who was left on bus overnight in February
WESTMONT, Ill. - Two employees of a suburban nursing home have been charged in the death of a 96-year-old female resident.
Bert Mongreig, 63, of Westmont and Navdeep Dhall, 43, of Bolingbrook appeared in court on Thursday. Bond was set at $50,000 for each of the men.
Mongreig was charged with two counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care resident resulting in death.
Dhall has been charged with one count of criminal neglect of a long-term care resident resulting in death and one count of criminal neglect of a long-term care resident.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2021, an employee at Cordia Senior Living, located on Cass Avenue, called 911 to report that she found an unresponsive resident of the facility on the facility's transport bus.
Bert Mongreig, 63 | Left , Navdeep Dhall, 43 | Right
Westmont Fire Department personnel pronounced the victim deceased on arrival and noted that there were no obvious signs of injury.
During an investigation, the Westmont Police Department found that on Feb. 2, the victim was transported to an area hospital for medical attention and returned from the hospital at about 3 p.m.
Upon her return to the facility, Mongreig, who was the bus driver for the facility, allegedly failed to ensure that the victim, who was wheelchair-bound, was off the bus before parking the bus in a back parking lot for the night, officials said.
That night into the following morning, temperatures fell to as low as 22 degrees. Mongreig allegedly noted in the resident logbook that the victim was returned to the facility.
When notified at about 10 p.m. that evening that the victim was unaccounted for, Dhall, the Resident Care Manager, allegedly did not make an effort to locate the victim.
At approximately 10:15 a.m. on February 3, staff at the facility began to search for the victim, who was found approximately fifteen minutes later still in the transport bus.
The DuPage County Coroner determined the cause of death was cold exposure due to entrapment within the parked van.
"It is alleged that the gross recklessness displayed by both Mr. Mongreig and Mr. Dhall resulted in the death of a ninety-six-year-old resident in their care," DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said. "Seniors at long-term care facilities rely on others for their personal safety and day-to-day needs."
Mongreig’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 23 for arraignment.
Dhall’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 26 for arraignment.