Records reveal prior charges against Montrose VA aide accused of abusing veteran

A major development in a turn to terror investigation you first saw last week after exposing the alleged abuse of an injured Gulf War veteran. Our senior reporter Tara Rosenblum dug into the background of the aid accused in this abuse and what she found is raising serious questions about whether warning signs were missed before he was hired to care for some of the state's most vulnerable veterans. No comment. You're looking at Matthew Cox leaving court earlier this month. He's the aid seen in this hidden camera video first aired by News 12 that appears to show him assaulting Gulf War veteran Albert O tool inside the state run veterans home in Montrose. We've since obtained the federal statement of deficiencies which describes the incident in even greater detail. Investigators found cock struck O tool who was living with a traumatic brain injury with a broom on his head, grabbed him by the neck, roughly placed him into his wheelchair, then struck him. The war hero is then heard screaming in pain. The video showed us what happened. We wanted to know who was responsible. So the turn to Tara team spent the past two weeks filing public records requests and digging through court records in multiple states. Turns out the record show Cox has been involved in civil and criminal court proceedings spanning nearly three decades. They include a 2017 drug case in which he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver a public urination charge that was later dismissed after he agreed to take a diversion program and a guilty plea to second degree trespassing at a high school. We also uncovered an assault on a female case that was later dismissed after the complaining witness chose not to proceed. We then asked one of the tri states leading criminal justice scholars to review what we found. You know, when you see somebody getting a diversion or the victim doesn't doesn't want to testify. To me, that raises a red flag that doesn't do away with the charge. Maybe they're too scared to testify. You just don't sit back and say, Well, there was one conviction and that's the end of it. Now, this person, when you look at the background, you get a sense that this person hadn't had a very good, clean, blameless life. He's in trouble a lot. Does that criminal conviction? Is that like the gold standard? If it's not a conviction, ignore everything else. You can't do that. His opinion raised an even bigger question. Were any of these records identified before Cox was hired to care for New York's most vulnerable veterans? So we asked the agencies responsible. The federal B. A. Is yet to respond. The State Department of Health says it's outraged by Cox alleged conduct that he was removed from duty later terminated and that required background checks found no prior record of negative conduct. But Gershman says that explanation doesn't hold up to me. This facility terribly dropped the ball. Either they didn't do a thorough background check or they did a very minimal background check. The scrutiny only intensifying with Cox set to return to court next month. Tower Rosenblum News 12. Yeah, eye opening deep dive there, and we reached out to Cox and his attorney several times, but we haven't heard back. If you or your loved one has a story to share about this facility, Tara wants to hear from you. You can reach out to her with the information on your screen right there or head to News 12 dot com.