Mobile DA: Group home elder abuse victim tests positive for COVID-19

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office says the scribbled out portions of this photo marks out where a person is in the bed and another is in the chair.

by Toi Thornton

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- The Mobile County district attorney tells FOX10 News one of the victims in a group home elder abuse case has tested positive for COVID-19 and others suffer from pneumonia.

“These individuals are all being treated in the hopsital now for various illnesses including pneumonia and COVID. They needed treatment at the facility and were not given that treatment,” said District Attorney Ashley Rich.

While DA Rich maintained the home is not a boarding house, one of the suspects' attorney Dennis Knizley said it is.

“This is a boarding house. This is not a group home. This is not a nursing home,” Knizley said. “Like any other boarding house they provide 3 meals a day and some minimal cleaning. That’s what they do. They’re not the caretakers of these people.”

Deputies with Mobile County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday the elderly veterans had no access to food and water, the a/c was broken, the fire alarm wasn't functioning and the refrigerator and cabinets were padlocked.

“I was there at the scene when it unfolded and it was deplorable. It was horrific conditions. It’s the worst possible thing that I could imagine that we could do to a veteran as a society. These individuals are going to be held accountable for what they did,” DA Rich added.

Knizley argues these allegations are overblown.

“You’ve seen these pictures of locked up refrigerators and things like that, that’s only after 5 o’clock. All during the day they have ample access to food and meals. After 5 o’clock they have snacks in their room, they have water and that’s like any other place,” he explained. “Air conditioning units in ever room, working. The smoke detectors were taken off the wall they’re fine. Where these allegations come from, you heard one that there wasn’t no one there for a week. This is totally untrue.

Deputies also found a large amount of prescription medication at the Owens' home. Knizley said they were 2 or 3 years old.

"Some of the people  that are living there, they take their medication, they don’t take it all or they get and change their prescription. They have left over medication. Those left over medications, you don’t want to leave them around the place for someone to pick up and use. They take them from the boarding home to their own home and don’t just leave them out for someone else to use. Yes they could’ve discarded them,” Knizley explained.

After authorities discovered the conditions at the group home in Grand Bay earlier this week, they made two arrests.

Donny Owens, 49, owner of One Life Management, was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree elderly abuse and neglect and five counts of elderly abuse and second-degree neglect.

Tilena Kim Owens, 49, also was charged with several counts of elder abuse and neglect.

Both have been released on bond, according to Mobile County Metro Jail records.

“This is a very, very large investigation and we have multiple disciplinarian chains from all over the state and country that are looking at this because it is veterans,” Rich stated.

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office describes the facility involved as an unlicensed group home for elderly veterans.

It was Tuesday evening, deputies said, when one of the six elderly veterans living in the home left to get help for two others who had fallen.

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Mobile DA: Group home elder abuse victim tests positive for COVID-19

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Second person charged with elder abuse, neglect over Grand Bay group home

Man charged with multiple counts of elder abuse and neglect in Grand Bay
 

Second person charged with elder abuse, neglect over Grand Bay group home

Tilena Owens, left, has been charged with elder abuse and neglect, as has her husband Donny Owens.

By Lawrence Specker

A second person has been arrested in the case of a Mobile County group home where authorities say six veterans were found in “deplorable” conditions this week.

Meanwhile a Mobile County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said the MCSO was working with federal investigators on the case. Another sheriff’s department official said that the six residents remained hospitalized and that authorities were working to establish whether other properties owned by the home’s operators might also be used as group homes.

Jail records indicated that Tilena Kim Owens, 49, was booked into Mobile County Metro Jail shortly before noon on Thursday and remained there early Thursday afternoon. She was charged with one first-degree count of elder abuse and neglect and three second-degree counts.

She is the wife of Donny Boyd Owens, also 49, who was booked into the jail Wednesday morning. Jail records indicated that he also remained in jail Thursday afternoon. He faces one first-degree count of elder abuse and neglect and five second-degree counts.

An MCSO spokeswoman said investigators had determined that the Owens had received federal funding, though the exact amount had not been established.

Captain Paul Burch of the Mobile County Sheriff’s office said Thursday that he believed Donny Owens had been through a bond hearing at which bond was set at $20,000 for the first-degree charge and $10,000 for each of the second-degree charges. Jail records did not reflect that hearing as of early Thursday afternoon.

Burch said the sheriff’s office was aware of “several” other properties owned by the couple but had not yet established whether any of them were being operated as group homes.

As for the six men discovered in Grand Bay, Burch said they continued to receive treatment. “They are all still in the hospital and as far as we know their conditions are not life threatening,” he said.

Burch had said on Wednesday that the six residents of the home at 11050 Lakeview Lane Ext. in Grand Bay “had not seen any caretaker at the house for several days, up to a week.” Cabinets, pantries and the refrigerator were padlocked and the six residents required medical attention.

Details of their ages and medical needs have not been released.

Full Article & Source:
Second person charged with elder abuse, neglect over Grand Bay group home

See Also:
Man charged with multiple counts of elder abuse and neglect in Grand Bay