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| Photo: Joseph McCarty and Karen McCarty(Jones County Sheriff's Department) |
By Emily Blackmarr
UPDATE: According to the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, the victims were vulnerable adults in their 30s and 40s.
JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - Two people have been charged in connection to a vulnerable adult abuse investigation in Jones County.
According to the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, Karen McCarty is charged with one count of grand larceny, two counts of exploitation of a vulnerable person and one count of abuse or neglect of a vulnerable person. Joseph McCarty is charged with kidnapping and felonious infliction of severe mental anguish upon a vulnerable person.
JCSD Investigator Denny Graham said the case started as a possible burglary investigation. He said a vulnerable couple, a man and woman, moved from a nursing home into the Lone Oaks Apartments and were being cared for by a third party, who had known one of the residents from the past.
Graham said the couple later became sick and had to be placed back into a nursing home. The items in the couple’s home were later reported missing, which lead to the initial burglary investigation.
The investigator said medical personnel who were involved in the couple’s care; however, reached out to him about the case. He said the case then evolved into an investigation of allegations of neglect, primarily of a vulnerable man, and exploration.
According to court records, The vulnerable couple alleges that Karen, their primary caregiver, went into the apartment with a key she possessed and stole the entire contents of the apartment while they were being admitted into a nursing home for long-term care in March. The couple estimated the value of the items stolen to be approximately $3,585.
The records said that the man was bed-bound due to being paralyzed from Spinal Bifida. He claims Karen took his Social Security money to pay his bills and then told him “there was never any money left over.” Since Karen had been his caregiver from August 2021 to March 2022, the victim estimated she stole approximately $3,363.
The records also claim that Karen allegedly (from August 2021 to March 2022), willfully, intentionally and “unlawfully and felonious” failed to provide adequate care to the man.
The records said Karen allegedly allowed the vulnerable victim to constantly remain on urine-soaked pads in the same position without care for hours at a time, causing the wound to worsen to the point of muscle and bone exposure to infection.
Moreover, according to court records, the vulnerable woman claimed that Joseph allegedly exposed himself to her while she was in Karen’s apartment around Christmas. She said Joseph never touched her, but he allegedly touched himself in front of her while the two of them were alone, which made her feel scared and upset due to past trauma.
The two suspects were arrested on May 16 and made their initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court, but later bonded out.
Jones County Sheriff Joe Berlin said, “this is one of the most disturbing cases of abuse and neglect of vulnerable persons that we have ever worked.”
“JCSD
investigator Denny Graham has been painstakingly investigating all of
the components of the crimes committed by Karen McCarty and Joseph
McCarty,” added Berlin. “The term ‘horrific’ doesn’t even begin to
describe the physical conditions of the two victims in this case...”
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