September 18, 2026
Bill Oxford/Unsplash
Simone Goldsboro, 37, pleaded guilty to spraying bleach in the face of a paralyzed patient at Avista Healthcare nursing home in Cherry Hill in 2023.
A nurse's aide at a Cherry Hill nursing home pleaded guilty to spraying bleach in a paralyzed patient's face in 2023, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said Thursday.
While working in Avista Healthcare on Aug. 17, 2023, Simone Goldsboro, 37, of Camden, admitted to using "more force than necessary" to undress and clean an elderly patient, according to the report. Goldsboro then left the room to retrieve a spray bottle of bleach from a custodial cart and proceeded to spray it in the patient's face and eyes.
The patient, identified by prosecutors as D.S., was paralyzed on one side of her body from a stroke. Goldsboro said she knew the spray bottle contained bleach and that it had the potential to cause significant injury to her patient.
"We have to trust the people who care for our loved ones at residential facilities," Davenport said in a statement. "This defendant exploited that trust and physically (assaulted) a paralyzed patient in her care. We will not tolerate the abuse of elderly and vulnerable individuals, especially by those entrusted with their care."
Goldsboro pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault and fourth-degree assault upon an institutionalized elderly person.
Prosecutors will recommend that Goldsboro be sentenced to 364 days in the Camden County jail and have her certified nurse's aide license revoked. The state will also argue for a her to be under probation following her release from jail. She will be sentenced Oct. 30.
