Assisted living center shut down after abuse allegations
An assisted living facility in Rock Spring, Georgia, has been shut down while the Walker County Sheriff’s Office investigates allegations of elder abuse.
The Majestic Manor, which is licensed for 24 beds and has operated since 2005, was closed last week, and 13 residents were moved out of the facility at 67 Pin Oak Drive in Rock Spring.
Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said his office and Georgia Department of Human Services investigators served a search warrant at the facility last Wednesday. Sheriff detectives relocated 11 residents to other assisted living centers in Northwest Georgia, and two other residents were moved out of the facility to be with family members.
“Investigators are investigating allegations of elder abuse by the owner/ operator of the facility,” Wilson said in an statement about the probe. “The facility was closed by state regulators. The investigation is continuing, and possible criminal charges may be issued in the case.”
No criminal charges have been filed against the facility or its operator, Debra A. Donahue, who lives in Ooltewah. Donahue is also listed as the operator of the Eagle Crest assisted living center on Standifer Gap Road in Chattanooga.
Donahue did not return multiple telephone calls Tuesday, but a sign on the door of the Majestic Manor said the facility was “temporarily closed.”
Sheriff deputies and state regulators are reportedly looking into allegations of possible improper practices involving medications given to residents.
The Georgia Department of Community Health, one of the state agencies involved in the investigation, has conducted investigations into three different complaints against the facility in the past 2 1/2 years, according to state records.
In December 2020, Majestic Manor was cited for “failing to provide supervision consistent with the residents’ needs” when one of its residents walked away from the facility and was later found by police at a church 11 miles away. But state investigations of other complaints in August 2021 and again in February of this year, as well as a routine inspection last July, found no rule violations at those times.
Wilson said the investigation is ongoing but “has been slowed by the voluminous amount of records the detectives
are having to review and process.”