Couple accused of locking adults in a basement

Pair allegedly ran an unlicensed personal care home.

A Spalding County couple have been indicted for allegedly running an unlicensed personal care home and abusing residents, Georgia’s attorney general said.

Curtis Bankston and Sophia Simm-Bankston are charged with operating an unlicensed personal care home, unreasonable confinement of a disabled adult and unreasonable confinement of a resident, said AG Chris Carr, Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie M. Broder and Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia Executive Director Pete Skandalakis. The case is being investigated by the offices of Carr and Skandalakis.

“The abuse, neglect or exploitation of Georgia’s older and at-risk adults is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Carr said in a statement. “Addressing the issue of unlicensed personal care homes is critical to ensuring the safety of our most vulnerable Georgians. We cannot and will not allow these types of operations to fall under the radar.”

Among the allegations, Bankston and Simm-Bankston are accused of locking seven adults with diminished mental capacity in the basement of the home, located on Valley Road in Griffin, in January 2022, their indictment states. The pair did not have a license to run the care home, said prosecutors. The Griffin police department initially investigated the allegations.

The group home came under suspicion when EMS workers and Griffin firefighters responded to the residence to treat a resident having a seizure. Authorities said the first responders had to climb through a window to access the patient because the basement door was double-key locked.

The couple previously denied the allegations through an attorney when they were arrested.

“At no time was anybody held against their will. There was no kidnapping,” attorney Dexter Wimbish said. “There is no fraud here. This is simply a Christian man who was following his calling to help those who are in need. We cannot sit by and allow the ministry to be attacked.”

When the couple was arrested, investigators said the two disguised the home as a faith-based ministry of Curtis Bankston’s church, One Step of Faith 2nd Chance. They acted as “caretakers” and used a deadbolt to lock the patients in the basement during certain parts of each day, said police.

“There are few things more reprehensible than abusing those who cannot care for themselves, but profiting from that abuse is truly despicable,” Broder said in a statement. “These defendants took advantage of people that were entrusted to their care, and the District Attorney’s Office is grateful for the expertise that the Attorney General and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council bring to the prosecution of these acts.”

The Georgia Department of Community Health offers information online to find licensed care homes.