POCAHONTAS COUNTY, Iowa (KTIV) – A woman who was working as a nurse at a Northwest Iowa care facility has been sentenced after being charged with neglect. KTIV in Sioux City says court documents show 70-year-old Becky Manning of Lake View, Iowa, was charged with wanton neglect of a resident of a care facility back in March 2024. The charge was filed after a man in a Fonda, Iowa, care facility died. After entering her plea months ago, Manning was in court on Monday, April 21, where a judge sentenced her to two years in prison and an $855 fine, along with other court costs. Manning had entered an Alford plea beforehand, which means she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her.

Court documents show the man under Manning’s care died back in February 2023 at the Fonda Special Care nursing home in Pocahontas County, Iowa. Investigators say the man had a condition requiring “frequent suctioning to maintain an open airway.” Authorities claim Manning refused to suction the resident’s airway even after at least four other staff members told her the resident was requesting and requiring suctioning. Manning reportedly started her shift on Feb. 18, 2023, and refused to suction the resident’s airway over the course of eight hours. The resident would later die sitting in his chair on Feb. 19, 2023.

Investigators say Manning was the only nurse on duty during this incident and they claim she was aware that the resident required his airway to be suctioned regularly. Court documents show, at the time, Manning was a licensed nurse with Grape Tree Medical Staffing and was contracted to provide nursing services at Fonda Specialty Care. The care facility was fined $6,500 for the death.

About a year after the death, Manning was arrested on the neglect charge and booked into the Pocahontas County Jail.