JONESBORO, Ga. — Neighbors say a home where elderly and mentally challenged adults lived was a house of horrors.
They say they are happy the residents have been removed from the home and police arrested their caretaker.
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The man arrested, Gabriel Robinson, told Channel 2′s Tom Jones he did nothing wrong.
“So was anybody in harm’s way?” Jones asked Robinson.
“No sir,” Robinson responded as he walked briskly from the home on Sir Richard Court in Clayton County.
Robinson said he did not house at-risk adults in deplorable conditions in the home, as police stated. He said he also did not house anyone in a camper with no air-conditioning, as a neighbor reported.
Finally, Robinson said he did not operate an illegal personal care home, which is what he was charged with.
“How did they come to your home,” Jones asked him.
“Hospitals and or word of mouth,” Robinson replied.
“It was just too much going on,” neighbor Larshay Sharp told Jones.
She says she reported what was going on at the home she called a ‘house of horrors.’
“I’ve experienced so many things dealing with this neighbor,” she said.
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Sharp says an elderly man jumped off the balcony and broke his ankle. She says paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital. She says an elderly man with an oxygen tank lived in a camper with no air conditioning in the backyard.
Sharp says she’d often see mentally ill residents roaming the streets. “Be in the middle of the street doing this stopping traffic,” she said, wildly waving her arms, illustrating how the residents behaved.
Clayton County police say the Department of Community Health did a wellness check and found 15 elderly and mentally challenged adults living in deplorable conditions in Robinson’s home.
They say the home had a severe bed bug infestation problem. Officers say residents had untreated infections. Several had to be transported to the hospital.
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Robinson refuted the allegations.
“I don’t know anything about infections. I don’t do healthcare work,” he said.
Officers charged Robinson with abuse and neglect of at-risk adults. He also faces operating a business without a license.
Robinson said he operated a boarding house and didn’t think he needed a license.
It made Sharp happy when she learned officers removed everyone from the home.
“It just wasn’t right what he was doing,” she said.
Police say the residents are now in legitimate personal care facilities, or the hospital. Robinson bonded out of jail after he was arrested. Once again, he insists he did nothing wrong.
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