A jury convicted an Atlanta woman of holding three disabled men in a "dank, unheated basement" in 2014 and stealing their social services money, according to the Cobb County district attorney's office.
The two-week trial of 54-year-old Sheila Bell Hawkins ended Friday. Her 16 charges included: operating an unlicensed personal care home where people were abused, neglected or exploited; neglect of a disabled person; abuse of a disabled person based on mental anguish; exploitation of a disabled person, for improperly using the victims' government benefits.
Her mother, 72-year-old Helen Flournoy Bell of Marietta, pleaded guilty to all 16 charges in July. Judge Kell sentenced Bell to 20 years of incarceration with five years to serve in prison and fined her $5,000. Hawkins' son, 26-year-old Micah Anthony Bell-Hall, worked for the care home and pleaded guilty to a charge of exploiting a disabled person and was sentenced under the First Offender Act to five years of probation and fined $500.
A tip about the conditions led Cobb County police to Bell's home in the 300 block of Windy Hill Road on Nov. 13, 2014.
When officers saw the men from a window in the door to the walk-out basement, the men asked: “Are you here to help us?”
335 Windy Hill Road. Courtesy of the Cobb County Tax Assessor’s Office.
Officers saw their breath that November day when they walked into the unfinished basement with black mold on the walls. They found the unbathed men who reeked of urine.
"No words can capture the horribleness of that house," said prosecutor Jason Marbutt, who was called to the scene that day and saw the conditions for himself. "These defendants let greed blind them to their obligations to treat their clients with the dignity and respect they deserve."
The men had no toilet paper and slept in child-size beds with no sheets. There was a refirgerator with bread and bologna and juice, but it was padlocked.
The trio recieved Social Security benefits along with Medicaid and/or Medicare for their medical treatment.
Hawkins’ business, Serene Reflections for Holistic Behavior Wellness, "advertises itself as a community-based treatment program that offers in-home and in-clinic counseling, as well as medication management to mentally-ill people," according to the district attorney's office.
Cobb Superior Court Judge C. LaTain Kell set Hawkins’ sentencing hearing for Sept. 1 at 9 a.m. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
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