LAURINBURG — The family of a resident at Willow Place Assisted Living has filed a complaint with police on charges that, if proven, could once again land the facility in trouble with the state.
The brother of a resident at Willow Place Assisted Living on Stonewall Road contacted police on Wednesday to say that his sister had been raped by another resident.
The alleged victim is a 52-year-old woman with mental deficiencies. An employee of the facility called the brother to let him know about the incident, the family said.
Police Chief Darwin Williams declined to release details, but did say that police were aware of the allegation.
“We are investigating this incident, and we are going to interview everybody that was working that day,” Williams said.
The home was cited for 16 infractions and issued a provisional license after state inspections in April and May of 2017 when reports were made to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service Regulation by patients and their families. One of the charges was, failure to protect a resident from another violent, combative suffering from Alzheimer’s.
On Feb. 12, a patient with dementia wandered away from the home and was not located until mid March when he turned up in New Jersey.
Following the spring 2017 inspections, Willow Place was cited for having violated serious state codes concerning patient care and staffing during. The short staffing caused issues with patients’ personal care and safety because patients with dementia were not being kept in a separate hall or being properly monitored.
DHHSR conducted a second inspection in August to deal with additional complaints from patients and their families. Following that investigation, Willow Place was written up for an additional 18 violations some of which the home had been cited for in the first inspection.
The assessment determined that the home failed to follow state regulations for staffing after investigators sampled records for 10 days between June and July and found that “the facility failed to assure staffing met minimal requirements according to the census, for 36 of 45 shifts sampled,” according to the report.
Willow Place presented the state with a Plan of Protection in June and a second in August promising that staff would be given additional training to address the problems.
In December, the state reinstated the home’s license allowing it to once again accept new residents.