SC Attorney General’s Office amps up efforts to thwart abuse on elderly, mentally impaired

Concerned citizens can call the elder/mentally impaired abuse hotline at 1-888-NO-CHEAT.

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — According to the SC Attorney General’s Office, its investigative unit opens around 50 new cases of abuse and fraud regarding vulnerable adults each year.

But who should the public call if they believe a crime is being committed? According to Attorney General Alan Wilson, he and members of his office are increasing their efforts to raise public awareness around crimes against elderly and mentally impaired adults.

“Whether a vulnerable adult is in a facility or in their own home, the abuse, neglect, and exploitation they experience is often committed by those who should be caring for them the most,” he says.

Those increased efforts include working more closely with law enforcement, and making their investigation unit more identifiable to the public and officers by changing its name to the “Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud Unit.”

Wilson says abusers rely on the public not knowing abuse is happening, or not knowing who to tell.

“We aim for our vulnerable adults to be treated with the dignity and safety they deserve. For this to happen, we need an informed public to partner with us to achieve this goal. We look forward to receiving reports from any concerned citizens out there around our state,” he says.

The task force has covered a range of cases including caregivers causing physical injuries in nursing homes, nurses stealing prescription drugs, and administrators locking patients in their rooms with no food or water.

Unit Director Stephanie Opet says cases of financial fraud increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We received numerous complaints from individuals saying they were living at a facility but their check was not given to them. Essentially, we had owners and operators retaining those funds when they should have been given to that resident. And as we started looking into those cases, we found more than financial exploitation, we found abuse and neglect and a whole myriad of other things that brought our attention to this issue and we’ve been doing outreach on that since then,” she says.

Chief Investigator John Frampton says some folks may be afraid to report on a facility that’s in charge of their loved one. They want everyone to know their investigations are discreet and safe.

“Call us. We know the right questions to ask oftentimes to be able to get down to what actually is going on. What that referral is about. If you see something, say something. There’s no harm in calling, 1-888-NO-CHEAT (1-888-662-4328). There’s no harm in calling us whatsoever, pick up the phone and call us, we’d love to talk to you about it and if it’s not something that fits our jurisdiction we can at least refer somebody to a local entity or another agency that can potentially help,” says Frampton.