Rhode Island woman charged after vulnerable adult allegedly in her care goes missing, found covered in her own urine and feces

Providence, R.I. – Attorney General Peter Neronha has announced that a woman from Providence faces charges in Providence County Superior Court for deliberately neglecting an adult with significant disabilities who was in her custody.

On Friday, the Attorney General’s Office filed a criminal information against Roberta D. Gerard, 43, accusing her of one count of neglecting an adult with severe disabilities, one count of neglecting to supply essential treatment, care, items, and services needed for the well-being of an adult with developmental disabilities, one count of impeding an officer during their duties, and one count of intentionally providing a false report of a crime.

According to the criminal filing, on March 19, 2025, Gerard, who worked as a Direct Support Professional at the Seven Hills Group Home in Lincoln, picked up her client—a 45-year-old woman with intellectual and developmental disabilities—for a required community outing as part of her care plan.

The allegations state that after retrieving the victim around 12:50 p.m. for the outing, Gerard stopped at a nail salon on Park Avenue in Cranston and left the victim unattended in her black Lexus SUV for roughly an hour and a half, based on her phone records. Upon returning to the vehicle, Gerard discovered the victim was gone. Around 4:00 p.m., she went to the Cranston Police Department to file a missing person report, offering multiple inaccurate versions of the preceding events.

As detailed in the filing, on March 23, 2025—after a five-day search effort by Cranston Police—a bystander alerted authorities to a woman fitting the victim’s description inside a parked Honda Pilot on Pond Street in Cranston, about a block and a half from the salon. Officers found the victim curled up in the fetal position inside the car, soiled with her own waste.

Gerard is set to be arraigned on October 22, 2025, in Providence County Superior Court.