35 adults in unlicensed group home just off South Beltway found without food or medication
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman concerned over her brother's welfare at a group home just off the South Beltway led to a far worse discovery: at least 35 men and women found without food or medication.
The facility, which Adult Protective Services found to be unlicensed, is in the 14000 block of Long Meadow Drive, not too far from the Sam Houston Tollway-South Freeway interchange.
According to the Harris County Constable Precinct 7 Office, deputies responded to a welfare check that came in around 3 p.m. Monday from a woman in Ohio who said that she received a disturbing call from her brother at the home.
Deputies and APS officials found 35 people at the home suffering from both mental and physical disabilities. At least two people were taken to the hospital. Another person was treated at the scene with a "visible gaping wound" to the abdomen, deputies said.
Three people were detained but later released.
All 35 people, ranging in age from 38 to 82 years old, were removed from the home. APS provided this breakdown of where the residents were being taken:
- 13 to four different licensed personal care homes
- 4 to assisted living faciliities
- 2 were picked up by family members
- 2 walked away
- 13 to two different hospitals
APS said its caseworkers spent Monday night placing the residents in new situations.
While authorities look into who owned the home, State Sen. Borris Miles, whose District 13 includes the area of the group home, told ABC13 the four-bedroom facility is owned by a group called Blessed Hands. Officials on the scene said there were seven beds to a room and several more in a garage.
Miles said the unlicensed operation was happening in the middle of a regular neighborhood.
Additionally, officials on the scene revealed they had more calls about the facility, many claiming the residents were being held against their will.
