Claremore Physician's Assistant Sentenced To 90 Days For Deaths Of 2 Veterans

A man charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two veterans in his care has been sentenced to 90 days in the county jail.

Kenneth Adams was a physician's assistant at the Claremore Veterans Center. Prosecutors say Adams was on the Internet scouting women for dates when two veterans died.

Jay Minter was scalded to death in a hot whirlpool and Louis Arterberry had a stroke and laid there with no care for nine hours.

"It's in the court records, [that] he was looking for a sexual liaison while my daddy was dying,” Louis’ daughter Glenna Hiseley said.

Louis had been a fireman in the Navy, rescuing crews from burning planes. He'd only been in the veterans center six months before his untreated stroke led to a coma and his death.

"He did his duty,” Glenna said.

After the two veterans died, longtime investigator Steven Pancoast with the Department of Veterans Affairs uncovered Adams' behavior.

His case led to the charges being filed. Everyone was shocked to later learn  Pancoast was in fact not a cop at all and actually was a former felon.

"How did he work there for years and nobody knew?" Glenna asked.

Because Pancoast was a fraud, all the cases he worked on were in serious trouble, including this one, so the Attorney General dropped the murder charges against Adams and Adams pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor assault and battery charges.

He got 90 days in jail and lost his medical license.

"We're lucky we got what we got and glad we got what we got,” Glenna said.

As for the investigator, he pleaded guilty to 26 different counts and will be sentenced in May.