An Atlanta woman who ran an unlicensed adult care center and moved at least 10 of her patients to dirty, barren apartments more than three hours away has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Michelle Oliver, 44, was found guilty by a Dougherty County jury on charges that she moved patients from Atlanta to Albany, where they lived in barely furnished duplexes and resorted to begging their neighbors for food, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release Wednesday. Oliver was given a 20-year sentence, seven of which must be served in prison.
According to the AG’s office, Oliver owned and operated Miracle One Care Center, which advertised itself as an organization offering housing, meals and other services to patients with mental health issues and those transitioning out of the criminal justice system. Miracle One originally housed some patients in apartments on Verbena Street in northwest Atlanta, a spokeswoman for Carr’s office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sometime around December 2016, Oliver’s business and her patients were evicted from the apartments for non-payment, the spokeswoman said. Oliver then moved the patients to a row of duplexes in Albany, more than three hours from their original location.
After the group settled there, someone in the community filed a complaint about one of the residents with Adult Protective Services, a division of Georgia’s Department of Human Services, the AG’s office said. That complaint led the state to open an investigation that ultimately revealed the terrible living conditions.
According to evidence gathered in the investigation, Miracle One’s residents were left mostly on their own in dirty, unfurnished duplexes. The homes had no air conditioning and many broken fixtures, and the residents had little access to clean clothes.
Oliver hired a “cook” to prepare food for the residents each morning, Carr’s office said, but that was usually the only food they were provided. The cook would usually leave before midday. Miracle One’s residents did not have access to their own money, so they often begged neighbors and nearby stores for food.
By the time the residents were removed from the duplexes, Albany Code Enforcement determined multiple units were not fit for human occupation, Carr’s office said.
As her clients went hungry, Oliver collected payments directly from their financial payee, a person who helped administer social security funds for the residents, the AG’s office said. Between December 2016 and September 2017, Oliver received more than $32,000. The payee, who was not identified, pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges related to the mistreatment of Miracle One’s clients in Albany, a spokeswoman said.
Five years after the duplexes were shut down, Oliver was found guilty of more than 60 counts related to the ordeal. She was convicted on one count of operating an unlicensed personal care home, one count of willful deprivation of an elder person, seven counts of willful deprivation of a disabled adult and 51 counts of financial exploitation of a disabled adult, the AG’s office said.
“Michelle Oliver preyed upon some of our state’s most vulnerable and in-need citizens,” Carr said in a statement. “She systematically neglected those she had promised to help, all while taking their money but leaving them with nothing in return.”
Carr emphasized the importance of reporting any incidents that raise concerns of abuse, exploitation or neglect.
“We want to thank the concerned citizen who brought this matter to the attention of the appropriate authorities,” Carr said.
Anyone who would like to report the abuse, neglect or exploitation of an older or disabled adult who lives in a private residence may contact DHS Adult Protective Services by calling 1-866-552-4464, then pressing 3. To report the abuse, neglect or exploitation of a resident in a long-term care facility, contact the Department of Community Health’s Healthcare Facility Regulation Division at 1-800-878-6442.
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