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TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a former staff member of a St. Augustine group home has been arrested for falsely imprisoning and abusing a disabled resident of that facility. Enrique Simpson was arrested today by law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Simpson, 39, is a former staff member of Adams Acres/Viscaya Group Home in St. Augustine. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Patient Abuse Neglect and Exploitation (PANE) team began investigating Simpson after receiving reports of alleged abuse occurring at the facility. A witness told investigators that Simpson had left one of his disabled clients handcuffed to a chair. The 39-year old victim suffered from severe developmental disabilities. Simpson was immediately fired following the incident.

Simpson will face criminal charges of abusing a disabled adult and false imprisonment, both third-degree felonies. If convicted of the charges, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the Seventh Judicial Circuit.