Astoria Place of Cincinnati: Admin Took Residents' Cigarettes - OH
That is what federal inspectors documented at Astoria Place of Cincinnati following a complaint investigation completed on August 12, 2025. The finding was straightforward: the facility's own top administrator had confiscated personal property from two residents without their consent and without replacing it. Under the facility's own written policy, that meets the definition of misappropriation of resident property.
The resident smoking in the rain was identified in inspection records as Resident #12. He had been admitted to Astoria Place on July 11, 2025, roughly a month before inspectors arrived. His medical record listed diagnoses including anxiety disorder, infective endocarditis, HIV, hepatitis C, and depression. A cognitive assessment completed a week after his admission found him fully intact, and he was documented as independent with his daily activities. He was capable of speaking for himself, and he did.
In an interview on the morning of August 12, Resident #12 told inspectors exactly what had happened. He said he had been smoking in front of the facility, not in the designated area, because it was raining and he was trying to stay dry. The administrator approached him, told him he was not allowed to smoke there, and then took the resident's cigarettes. Not one. Five cigarettes in total, which the administrator threw into the garbage. The resident confirmed the administrator had not replaced them.
The second resident, Resident #13, had been at Astoria Place since March 4, 2025, more than five months by the time inspectors arrived. His diagnoses included spondylosis, depression, and diabetes mellitus. Unlike Resident #12, he had mild cognitive deficits and required extensive staff assistance with his daily activities. He also described the same encounter with the administrator, in his own interview on the afternoon of August 12. He had been smoking in front of the facility. The administrator told him he was not allowed there. The administrator took his cigarette and threw it away.
The administrator did not dispute any of this.
In an interview the afternoon before inspectors finished their review, on August 11, the administrator confirmed he had personally witnessed Residents #12 and #13 smoking in front of the facility a few weeks earlier. He confirmed he told them they were not supposed to be there. He confirmed he took their cigarettes and threw them in the garbage. He confirmed he had not replaced them.
Then, the following morning, in a second interview, the administrator offered a revised version of the numbers. He said he had taken one cigarette from Resident #12 and one cigarette from Resident #13. Resident #12 had said five cigarettes. The administrator said one. Inspectors documented both accounts. The administrator did not explain the discrepancy, and the inspection record does not resolve it.
What the record does resolve is the legal category. Astoria Place's own Abuse and Neglect Protocol, dated June 13, 2021, defines misappropriation of resident property as the deliberate misplacement, exploitation, or wrongful, temporary or permanent use of a resident's belongings or money without the resident's consent. The administrator took the property. He threw it away. He did not replace it. The residents had not consented to any of it.
The deficiency was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, the lowest tier in the federal harm scale. Inspectors reviewed three residents for residents' rights concerns and found violations affecting two of them. The facility's census at the time of the inspection was 75 residents.
It is worth being precise about what that "minimal harm" designation does and does not mean. It describes the physical or medical consequence to the residents, not the legal or ethical weight of the conduct. Taking someone's personal property without consent and destroying it is the same act whether the property is a cigarette or a wallet. The regulations do not draw a distinction based on the monetary value of what was taken. The facility's own policy does not either.
The investigation was opened in response to a complaint, filed under complaint number 2568951. Someone reported this. The inspection record does not say who.
What the record makes clear is that the residents' accounts and the administrator's account agree on the essential facts. He saw them smoking in the wrong place. He told them to stop. He took their property. He threw it away. The only dispute is how many cigarettes he took from Resident #12, and on that question, the person with more to lose by giving the higher number was the resident.
Resident #12 had been at the facility for about a month when this happened. He had come in with a serious heart infection, a chronic virus, a liver disease, a mental health diagnosis. He was cognitively intact and independent, living in a nursing facility at 3627 Harvey Avenue in Cincinnati, trying to stay out of the rain while he smoked. The administrator took what he had and threw it away.
The administrator had not replaced the cigarettes by the time federal inspectors finished their investigation.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Astoria Place of Cincinnati from 2025-08-12 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: November 3, 2026 · Our methodology
ASTORIA PLACE OF CINCINNATI in CINCINNATI, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 12, 2025.
That is what federal inspectors documented at Astoria Place of Cincinnati following a complaint investigation completed on August 12, 2025.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.