Some charges dismissed in ‘Angel of Death’ case

A McHenry County judge dismissed five criminal neglect charges Tuesday against Penny Whitlock, a nursing supervisor who was accused of disregarding warnings that one of her nurses was giving dangerous doses of morphine to residents at a Woodstock nursing home.

Judge Joseph P. Condon acquitted Whitlock of the felony charges from 2008, according to court records.

Whitlock, 62, of Woodstock, still faces two felony charges of obstruction of justice and destroying evidence. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison, but probation also is an option.

The charges stemmed from six suspicious deaths of terminally ill residents in 2006 at the Woodstock Residence Nursing Center. Three bodies were exhumed as part of an investigation that lasted 15 months.

Whitlock is not accused of killing the patients and neither is Marty Himebaugh, the nurse who worked for Whitlock.

Himebaugh, 60, of Lake in the Hills, is accused of four counts of neglect and one count each of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. She will face trial separately and is next due in court on May 24.

In the case against Whitlock, prosecutors have sought to show that she disregarded warnings from her staff after some of the patients died abruptly and ordered her staff to destroy evidence.

According to the 2008 indictment, Whitlock at one point encouraged Himebaugh to act as the “Angel of Death” at the 115-bed nursing home.

Defense attorney Nils von Keudell has argued that his client never acted improperly or neglected patients. Von Keudell could not immediately be reached for comment, but was expected to continue or possibly wrap up his defense Wednesday.