A Williamsville woman has been arraigned in Erie County Court on 201 felony counts related to forging and falsifying documents as an official with Baker Victory Services in Lackawanna.Former Baker Victory Director of Quality Improvement, 55-year-old Kristen Hauser, faces 67 charges of second degree forgery - a class D felony - 67 counts of offering a false instrument for filing and 67 counts of falsifying business records - class E felonies. The 67 documents were related to investigations of abuse and neglect of vulnerable New Yorkers.
Hauser, who was employed at Baker Victory Services for 27 years, and responsible for approving and filing incident reports, is alleged to have created the forged documents herself, then submitted the falsified reports to the NYS Office of Mental Health and NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, which license Baker Victory Services, and into Baker Victory’s own business records. The Justice Center, OMH and OPWDD rely on such records when investigating allegations of abuse and neglect and making determinations.
The case, which involved documents during the period 2014 to 2016, was investigated and prosecuted by the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. Hauser faces from two-and-a-third to seven years in prison for each forgery.
