Missing man with mental disabilities found safe after sheriff says facility dropped him off at wrong place

ATLANTA — A frantic week-long search for a missing man with mental disabilities ended Wednesday night after he survived several days out in the cold weather.

Butts County Sheriff Gary Long told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that a woman spotted Mario Scott and was driving him back to his hometown of Jackson.

Despite being found, the sheriff said that doesn’t excuse how he got left at the direction of a mental health facility on the streets of Atlanta instead of in the small town where he came from.

“I’ve been very worried. I couldn’t go to sleep last night,” said Herman Scott, Mario’s father. “I’ve been concerned. I’ve been looking, I been calling.”

Long described Mario Scott as mentally disabled and without a mean bone in his body.

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“The guy is absolutely harmless. The guy is loved in our community,” Long said. “We haven’t had a day since he’s been missing that the weather’s not freezing.”

Long said a mental health facility had him dropped Mario Scott off outside a homeless shelter near downtown Atlanta instead of returning him to Jackson, where he came from and lives.

“The bus driver was interviewed and stated that Mario Scott continued telling him ‘I don’t want to go to Atlanta,’” Long said.

Long told Winne that Mario Scott’s mother, who dispenses his medications, was hospitalized with COVID-19.

Mario Scott had recently seen a Butts County doctor who sent him to Riverwoods Behavioral Health in Clayton County for help on Jan. 18.

On Jan. 27, Riverwoods reached out through the 911 center and Jackson police, not the sheriff’s office which transported Scott to Riverwoods.

“I woulda went personally and got Mario and brought him back,” Long said.

Long told Winne he checked at his mother’s house that day and the next but no one was home.

Riverwoods had him dropped off outside a homeless shelter in Atlanta before the place was open for check-in and Mario Scott was never checked in.

A Riverwoods representative in Riverdale told Winne she could not comment on any individual patient because of privacy laws but Riverwoods’s policy is to not discharge a patient to a particular place without the patient’s consent to ensure a safe discharge.

“The moment we found out he was here, I called Riverwood and left my husband Bruce’s contact information for emergency contact,” said Tawanda Scott, Mario’s sister-in-law.

Tawanda Scott said the family dropped off clothes and provided a contact number at Riverwoods early in his stay but never got a call from Riverwoods.

Long said Mario Scott was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital for hypothermia but released Jan. 30.

Investigators Matt Munger and Noah Baldwin told Winne that they had been running down leads in several counties.

“I’ve been blessed in my career and if we can bring Mario home safely, that will be one of the most rewarding moments ever,” Munger said.

“I pray. I pray. I read my bible and ask God to protect him,” Herman Scott said.

Long said he believes the Clayton and/or Fulton County district attorneys should open a criminal investigation into Riverwood’s handling of Mario Scott.

The sheriff said the shelter that Mario Scott was dropped off at did nothing wrong.

More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines given out so far, Gov. Kemp says This comes as the Department of Public Health says there are now 23 confirmed cases of the highly contagious UK variant across the state.

Cox Media Group