Caretaker beat disabled boy, stole disability checks for years, police say

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A caretaker has been illegally swiping a mentally handicapped teen's disability checks for the last 5 years – and not providing care for the Charlotte boy, according to a police report.

The incidents began in June 2006 and for the last year involved physical abuse on the 18-year-old , according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police report.

"The victim has been assaulted multiple times over the last year by the suspect," the police report said, "On several occasions the suspect struck the victim with a baseball bat."

Police say as of Tuesday evening, no arrest has been made.  Cops say the investigation is ongoing.  

A concerned person called and told police the suspect had been taking the victim's disability checks from June of 2006 through this month, police said in the report.

"The suspect has been receiving the disability check of the victim for being a care provider, but is not providing care to the victim," the police report said.

DSS and police say they responded to the abuse case on Monday around 4 p.m. at a home on the 1000 block of Lunsford Place.

CMPD is currently investigating the issue. Neighbors are shocked this happened on their block.

"It's sad to know that that was right there,"  Neighbor Beth Jackson said.  "And we didn't know anything about it or didn't check on it.  That's really heartbreaking."

The Department of Social Services is not commenting on this case.  Representatives are not even confirming if they are investigating this case.  They do say agents check on their clients quite frequently especially if they are children, but if they are adults the checks may not be that frequent.

The victim in the case is 18 years old which is considered an adult.

"We should probably all do a little bit more taking care of each other," Jackson said. "It's a big lesson to learn unfortunately. "

A similar case was uncovered in Philadelphia recently when victims were discovered in a  "dungeon of horrors" where four people with mental disabilities where imprisoned as part of an alleged scam to steal their social security checks.

A man from the Charlotte area was a victim in that case. (Click here to read more on that case)

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