John R. Jenkins, Home Health Care Nurse, Arrested After Footage Shows Him Brutalizing Disabled, Voiceless Man

Mark (*) is profoundly disabled, suffering from stage two mitochondrial myopathy, a degenerative disease that can affect many parts of the body, impairing movement and energy. Mark, who is in his 20s, cannot speak, cannot walk, and has seizures. He uses a device to ask for basic things. He has nearly round-the-clock nursing care at his Palm Coast home, which he shares with his mother.

According to a Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation and surveillance video footage, Mark has also been repeatedly and brutally abused by one of his care-givers, John Roy Jenkins, a 68-year-old resident of Daytona Beach who has been covering weekend shifts for Mark since Jenkins became a nurse a year ago.




Jenkins works for Maxim Healthcare, a company with locations in every state–the company that, according to Mark’s mother, had sent an abusive caregiver to Mark in 2013.

Mark’s mother learned of Jenkins’s alleged abuse when she was home and overheard Jenkins being “verbally aggressive” toward her son, Jenkins’s arrest report states. She confronted Jenkins. He apologized, saying he’d just been frustrated by Mark’s iPad and the television not functioning properly.

When she went back to her room, Mark’s mother got what she described as a gut feeling, as mothers often do, that something was wrong. She started verifying footage from her indoor Ring camera. She saw Jenkins kicking her son and striking him over and over with his iPad. She confronted Jenkins and told him to leave immediately, then called the cops.

After informing Maxim Healthcare of the issue, the company told her that Jenkins was placed on administrative leave. Maxim Healthcare’s operations manager in Daytona Beach referred a FlaglerLive inquiry to the national company’s media email. There was no response to an email before this article initially published.

Sheriff’s Detective Kathryn Gordon was assigned the case. The arrest report’s summary of Jenkins’s alleged violence against Mark makes for difficult reading. The report bullet-points descriptions of Jenkins, as captured by the camera. Jenkins is seen:




• Sitting on Mark
• Throwing items at Mark
• Applying unnecessary force to Mark’s groin area
• Forcibly slamming Mark on his motorized chair
• Grabbing Mark’s feet and legs to throw his body around
• Applying intense pressure and bending Mark’s legs in an unnatural manner
• Punching Mark with a closed fist in his lower abdomen
• Shoving Mark’s head into pillows or into the ground

Gordon reviewed each video, summarizing each in detail. One of the summaries, dating from Feb. 1 at 3:40 p.m., reads as follows (with the victim’s name changed to Mark): “Mark is lying on the living room floor on a bedding pallet. John is standing over Mark. John throws an unknown object into Mark’s head, causing Mark’s head to rock backward. John says, ‘I said is your iPad working.’ John walks over to Mark, puts one hand on Mark’s torso area and one on Mark’s head, and forcefully pushes Mark down, onto the floor, between the bedding pallet and wall. John smacks his hand onto Mark’s neck to pick him up, grabs his arm, and pulls Mark back onto the bedding pallet. John puts his hand on Mark’s face and pushes Mark down onto the bedding pallet while saying, ‘Get on your fucking iPad’ and ‘You hear me, motherfucker.’




“John puts a pillow under Mark’s head, puts his hand on Mark’s face, and forcefully pushes Mark’s head into the pillow. It should be noted that Mark is making sounds of discomfort throughout this. Afterward, Mark begins to make more sounds of discomfort and breathe heavier, at which time, John says, ‘What the fuck is your problem, you got an iPad.’ John, then, picks up Mark’s tablet and repeatedly thrusts it into Mark’s neck area. Mark begins to cough and gasp for breath. John sits on the couch, and it appears that he is trying to find something on the television.”

Six other equally shocking segments–from Dec. 14, Feb. 2 and Feb. 8–are described.

On February 19, Gordon obtained a warrant for Jenkins’ arrest for four counts of Abuse of a Disabled Adult, each a third-degree felony, and began coordinating with the Daytona Beach Police Department to take Jenkins into custody. Jenkins was arrested on Feb. 21 by Daytona Beach police at his home, according to a sheriff’s release. He was booked at the Volusia County Branch Jail and released on $40,000 bond. He’d twice been booked at the jail previously, in 2017 and 2023, both times on drunk driving charges.

“This is a tragic and sickening case of abuse, where a vulnerable adult was taken advantage of by someone entrusted with their care,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying. “We are grateful to the family member who had the foresight to place cameras inside the home, and then quickly reported the ongoing abuse of a disabled adult. Most home healthcare aides and nurses do a great and loving job providing care, but this case highlights the importance of being vigilant about the care your loved ones receive, especially those who cannot speak for themselves.”

The sheriff also commended Gordon and the Major Case Unit and Daytona Beach police.