Nurse takes plea deal in robbery of her patient

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2001 | 9:54 a.m.

A Las Vegas certified nurse aid accused of duct-taping one of her patients to a kitchen chair and robbing her of more than $2,000 has taken a deal.

Korinda Martin pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of coercion Tuesday. The robbery charge carries a two-to-15-year prison sentence, and the coercion is a one-to-six-year sentence.

According to transcripts of Martin's preliminary hearing, the 70-year-old victim was robbed several weeks after she hired Martin to help her.

The woman testified at the hearing that she engaged Martin to keep her company for a few nights shortly after she was released from a nursing home where she had been recovering from a dislocated hip.

The victim's name is being withheld at the request of prosecutors, who say she is fearful of being targeted by thieves in the future.

According to the transcripts, the woman had met Martin at the nursing home and offered her $10 an hour.

The woman said Martin worked for her a few nights in January and was paid $100. On the day she intended to pay Martin the rest of her fee, the woman said Martin disappeared in the middle of her shift along with about $500 in cash and some jewelry.

On March 4 she said Martin broke through her screen door and duct-taped her to a kitchen chair and duct-taped her hands, eyes and mouth. She said she could then hear Martin rummaging through her home.

After awhile, Martin removed the duct tape from her mouth and dragged her and the chair throughout the house, asking her for money, the woman said. The victim said she directed Martin to various cups of change she kept for gambling.

When Martin was told she didn't have an ATM card, the woman said Martin began telling her that her husband was going to get out of their car and come inside to beat her until she came up with more money.

After she wrote a check to Martin's husband for $2,000, the woman said Martin freed her.

"I figured that is the only way," the woman testified. "I was afraid if I did not think of something I would not get untied. I did not know how anyone would come and find me if she left me. I was afraid if I tried to get a phone off that chair I would break my hip and I did not know how I was going to get loose."

The woman said Martin threatened to come back and kill her if she called police.

She also promised never to come back, the woman said.

"Then she gave me a hug actually and she left," the woman said.

In exchange for pleading guilty and not asking for probation, the Clark County district attorney's office dismissed a kidnapping charge against Martin and agreed not to use the victim's age to enhance Martin's sentence.