Home health aide charged in 2022 death of Robin Phillips pleads guilty

EVANSVILLE — A home health aide charged alongside two colleagues for the 2020 death of Robin Phillips, a special-needs patient, struck a plea agreement Wednesday with the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office.

Court records identified the woman as Latavia M. Booker, who Evansville police arrested in March of 2022 after an inquiry into Phillips’ death reportedly showed she suffered neglect. Two other women, Victoria D. Brown and Glenda R. Fields, were also charged.

Booker’s March 11 jury trial was called off Wednesday afternoon when Ryan C. Reed, a Vanderburgh County Circuit Court magistrate, reviewed Booker’s plea agreement. A judge is scheduled to sentence Booker on April 4.

In January 2022, Booker, Brown and Fields all worked as home health aides for Compass Residential and Consulting LLC. The company, which has since come under new ownership, primarily Evansville’s mentally and physically disabled, according to a civil suit later filed by Phillips’ estate.

A review of police and court records show that Phillips died Jan. 4, 2020, under what investigators described as “suspicious” circumstances. At the time, Booker, Brown and Fields had worked with Phillips regularly, and the trio met one day earlier to discuss Phillips’ ongoing care.

Brown, who was a supervisor, directed Booker and Fields during the Jan. 3 “care team meeting,” to take Phillips to a local emergency room for treatment of severe constipation, an affidavit of probable cause states. But by the next day, Phillips still had not left her home.

According to the police, a Compass Residential employee who spoke with investigators said Booker and Fields refused to seek medical care for Phillips, with Fields at one point reportedly saying, “it was not her f*****g job” to take Phillips to a hospital.

The Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office determined Phillips died due to caretaker malfeasance and an overdose caused by the antipsychotic medication chlorpromazine.

Compass Residential conducted its own internal review after Phillips' death. Lee Vanhorn, then a director at the company, told Evansville police "there were a lot of documents just missing" from Phillips' medical records, specifically her Medication Administration Record.

Phillips’ estate sued Compass Residential for damages and later settled the suit out of court for an undisclosed sum, according to the Vanderburgh County Clerk’s Office.

Brown and Fields' cases are ongoing. Court records show both women face 10 counts, including charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony. Brown is scheduled to go before a jury April 10, and a jury trial in Field’s case is scheduled for April 15, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville health aide charged in Robin Phillips death pleads guilty