2 group home employees charged after pouring boiling water on patient with disabilities, police say

CHICKASAW, Ala. (WALA/Gray News) – Two employees of a group home in Alabama were arrested Tuesday after police said they poured boiling water on a patient.

Chickasaw police said the 52-year-old patient has mental and physical disabilities. He is being treated at a hospital for second-degree burns.

An employee with Nobles Group Homes told WALA that the alleged abuse was “all a hoax” and denied anything happened. However, police tell a much different story.

Captain Tommie McDuffie with the Chickasaw Police Department said surveillance video from inside the group home shows 21-year-old Dakerria Hall and 22-year-old Kevin Franklin pour boiling water on the victim.

“We have evidence to prove that they abused one of the residents inside of the home,” McDuffie said. “After an interview, those two were arrested and charged with abuse of a protected person.”

McDuffie also said the victim is unable to care for himself due to his disabilities.

“When you have somebody that can’t take care of themselves mentally or physically, and for someone to intentionally do harm to them, I think it’s outrageous,” McDuffie said.

Nobles Group Homes is owned by an independent contractor and licensed by the Intellectual Disabilities Division of Alabama’s Department of Mental Health.

Both Hall and Franklin have bonded out of jail.

Copyright 2022 WALA via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.