Feces, urine and roaches: Judge sends elder abuse case to grand jury

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    Mobile, AL (WALA) — Six men living in a group home in Grand Bay appeared malnourished and in poor hygienic condition, surrounded by human waste and vermin, an investigator testified Monday.

Jonathan Bush, a detective with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, described what he observed when he arrived at the home in May after a report of a man who had fallen outside.

“There was feces and urine about the floor, roaches all over the residence,” he testified.

Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis found probable cause to send the case against the group home owners to a grand jury. Donny Owens and his wife, Tilena Owens, face six counts of elder abuse – one for each of the residents.

Referring to testimony that the residents ate all three of their meals when an employee was working between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., the judge said he was going to ask one of the defense lawyers if he confined all of his meals to those hours.

“Although, I do hear that’s a new diet,” the judge quipped.

Defense attorneys pressed Bush for details and sought to nail him down on whether there is photographic or other evidence.

Attorney Dennis Knizley, who represents Donny Owens, disputed the allegations.

“I don’t think you’re going to find any urine. You’re not going to find any feces or find any roaches,” he said after Monday’s hearing. “I asked about the photographs, if you recall, and nobody seemed to take any photographs or anything, so I don’t believe you’re gonna find that.”

However, Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Clay Rossi told FOX10 News he believes the evidence is strong.

“We’re confidence with our case moving forward,” he said.

Bush testified that some of the residents told investigators they had been living in group homes in Mississippi and moved to the 1,100-square-foot home in Grand Bay after solicitations from the defendants. He said the sole employ told authorities that she worked five days a week from about 7:30 or 8 a.m. until about 5 p.m.

The employee told investigators that she fed the residents based on a meal plan drawn up by the defendants and that cabinets containing food and medicine were locked when she was not there. Bush testified there are doubts that the men were receiving proper nutrition. As an example, he said, all six shared a single box of macaroni and cheese for one meal.

Bush testified two of the residents had their own rooms and two others shared rooms in the four-bedroom house.

He added that the men appeared malnourished. When deputies arrived, he told the judge, they found one of the victims confined to a chair with an open sore infested with flies and maggots. Deputies took the man to Singing River Health System in Mississippi, where doctors indicated that they might have to amputate the man’s leg, Bush said.

Another of the residents, Bush said, was prone to falling, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had black soles on his feet. Doctors determined that the man’s health condition required round-the-clock medical care, Bush testified.

Knizley told FOX10 News that his client will be vindicated.

“I don’t think there’s gonna be any question that these people weren’t properly nourished the entire time they were there,” he said. “But understand, this is a boarding home, not a group home. These people were told what they were gonna get for what they paid for, and the duty and responsibility the medical care and the general well-being is not that of the Owens.”

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