"21 accused of abusing patients in Ga." Associated Press, July 03, 2013
COMMERCE, Ga. — More than 20 employees of a Georgia assisted-living center for people with Alzheimer’s disease face dozens of criminal charges after state investigators raided the center on Tuesday and uncovered allegations that employees had mistreated patients, authorities said.
The charges stem from a three-month investigation of Alzheimer’s Care of Commerce, a facility about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials said.
Agents executed a search warrant Tuesday to gather evidence at the center. Officials say the probe revealed allegations of physical abuse, such as staff members hitting patients and throwing water on them. Charges filed against the 21 employees include cruelty to people 65 or older, and involve accusations of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.
Eleven employees were being held in the Jackson County jail as of Tuesday evening, and the facility’s owner had yet to surrender to authorities, GBI spokesman John Heinen said.
Twenty-seven people were being treated at the facility when authorities executed the surprise raid Tuesday, Heinen said. Three of them were hospitalized and Heinen did not have details on their medical conditions Tuesday evening.
State officials launched an investigation into the facility after complaints were made by relatives of residents and employees, Heinen said. He added that the initial complaint was filed by an employee.
‘‘Information obtained through the investigation indicated that patients were restrained with bedsheets and subjected to inhumane and undignified conditions to include ‘double diapering,’ which is a practice whereby multiple diapers were placed on the patients at once to keep the staff from changing soiled diapers as often,’’ the GBI said in a statement.
GBI agents said they also learned that patients were being cared for by people with prior felony convictions that include voluntary manslaughter and identity theft.
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