OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Witnesses are coming forward saying a nursing home worker who threatened to behead his female coworker was only joking.
Now, the victim herself is behind bars for a not so innocent past.
KFOR reportsthat Bellevue Nursing Home in Northwest Oklahoma City is where the alleged victim, Monique Garrett, the alleged terrorist Jacob Muriithi and their coworker who wants to remain anonymous were employed.
The anonymous coworker says he overheard a conversation that quickly escalated to what police are calling a terrorist threat.
“I heard what I thought was a joke, what sounded to me like a joke,” the anonymous co-worker said.
He sticks to Jacob’s innocence.
“That sounds ridiculous, there’s no way Jacob, there’s no way I could see Jacob was as terrorist,” the anonymous co-worker said.
But the woman accusing Muriithi insists he even told her he represented ISIS.
“Jacob has a dry sense of humor, Jacob is a Christian not a Muslim,” the co-worker said.
Muriithi also denies ever claiming he was a part of ISIS.
Today we learned the alleged victim in the case, Monique Garrett, is locked up on a felony warrant from 2012.
Undercover video shows Garrett getting arrested early Thursday morning at Bellevue.
Court documents show on September 4th of 2012, “Monique Garrett willfully and knowingly took Oxycodone…from a patient… from Manor Care Center”
Since the investigation, that nursing home was sold and Garrett did not work under its new owners.
It’s unclear why it took police so long to arrest Garrett, but a local advocate against nursing home abuse has a theory.
“If somebody is caught abusing or neglecting a resident or patient, it could take as much as a month before that flag shows up in the system so that person could technically be fired from that facility and go work at another facility without raising anybody’s attention,” Wes Bledsoe with A Perfect Cause.
Muriithi’s co-worker says all he wants is his be friend to be let go.
“He just made a silly mistake and I don’t think he should have to pay for it for the rest of his life,” the anonymous co-worker said.
The administrator for Bellevue Nursing Home told KFOR that Garrett did pass their background check.
KFOR was able to pull up a lengthy felony history including the arrest warrant for Garrett.
Additionally, the Oklahoma State Health Department and Garrett is still listed as a certified medication aide.
