Jan 28, 2008 12:09 pm US/Central
AG: Assisted Living Residents Threatened W/Hammer
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ―
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit against a Fort Worth assisted living center, claiming its manager threatened residents with a hammer, withheld food and locked some of them out of the building at night.
In a news release today, Abbott's office says the alleged abuse took place at the Oasis Village assisted living facility, located in Fort Worth's Polytechnic neighborhood.
Abbott says on Friday a state district judge issued a temporary injunction against the owner of the facility, God's Intercessory Prayer Warriors Ministries, Inc., and its manager, Bertha McCoy.
According to state inspectors from the Department of Aging and Disability Services, at least five residents at the facility have complained that McCoy abused them. Some residents said she took the mattresses from their beds and forced them to sleep on metal bed frames, as punishment for soiling their sheets. They also said she locked them out of the building overnight. According to Abbott, state inspectors also found evidence that McCoy hit several residents and threatened some with a hammer.
Inspectors reportedly found a hammer in McCoy's office during a recent visit.
McCoy says the allegations are false. McCoy's attorney, Bobbie Edmonds, told CBS 11 News, "She's a Christian lady, has always cared for people and these allegations have just been devastating for her and her family. She's a woman who's been caring."
Abbott says on December 3, state inspectors suspended the facility's license temporarily and moved to close it. But Abbott says the facility reopened after the suspension expired. According to Abbott, the injunction issued Friday prohibits God's Intercessory Prayer Warriors Ministries or McCoy from reopening Oasis Village or any other assisted living facility.
The state has filed suit against Oasis Village with the facility facing a punishment of up to $10,000 per penalty.
All of the residents at the facility have been relocated.
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