July 8, 2008
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Staff Member at Gainesville Group Home Arrested for Abusing Disabled Resident
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of a staff member at a Gainesville group home. Robert Reed was taken into custody today by law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Reed is charged with abusing a disabled resident of Elevations Group Home.
An ongoing investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit revealed Reed, 38, abused the same disabled resident of Elevations several separate times while Reed was employed at Elevations Group Home. Witnesses reported that Reed pushed his fingers down the resident’s throat, causing him to vomit. Reed also allegedly punched the same resident on a separate occasion and pushed the victim into a brick wall.
Reed is charged with two counts of abusing a disabled adult, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Reed is the fourth employee of Elevations to be arrested as part of this ongoing criminal investigation.