A Cobb County nurse is accused of physically abusing elderly patients who police say were living in squalor at an unlicensed Marietta adult care home.
Marietta police say they’ve accounted for six victims so far; two were located Wednesday at an unlicensed care home in Atlanta where they had been moved. They were found locked inside, unsupervised.
“I knocked at the door and heard the voice of an elderly women yelling for help,” an officer states in an Atlanta Police Department incident report. The two women found inside the residence at 2322 Ewing Street near Brookhaven alleged they had been abused by Raequel Penny, the Cobb nurse charged earlier this week with operating an illegal adult care home following an investigation by Marietta police.
Those charges were upgraded to include elder abuse and elder neglect, both felonies, after police interviewed the women being held at the Ewing Street home.
One of the women told police that during her stay at the Marietta adult care home, Penny had allegedly pulled her hair and forcefully grabbed her arm, leaving a visible mark. The other woman said she was a diabetic and had developed a sore on her foot that went untreated at the Marietta facility, according to the APD incident report. Both patients were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for observation.
Penny turned herself in to police on Tuesday and was subsequently released on bond.
At a press conference Thursday, Penny told reporters she was a loving caregiver. She did not respond when asked if she was running an illegal care home.
“I would never hurt or harm anyone,” she said, adding that the photographs released by police of rotten food in the refrigerator and bed sheets used in the place of ceilings were taken in parts of the home that were not being used.
Marietta police said the investigation is ongoing. Penny’s uncle, Terry Catron, who let officers into the Ewing Street residence, was cited for running a personal care home without a license. Catron — also charged with elder abuse, elder neglect and obstruction of an elder abuse investigation — told officers the home was operated by his niece.
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