STATE

Athens woman indicted for allegedly running 'slave house' for persons with developmental disabilities

Joe Johnson
jjohnson@onlineathens.com
Emma Lois Heard

An Athens woman was recently charged in a 19-count indictment for allegedly operating an unlicensed personal care home in which residents with developmental disabilities were abused and held against their will.

The indictment stemmed from an investigation launched in May when a former resident of the home at 200 Landor Drive told Athens-Clarke County police that 56-year-old Emma Lois Heard was "running a slave house" at that location, where men with special needs were kept locked up in the basement.

When police conducted a search warrant at the home, they said they found men there, between 52 and 71 years old, all in good physical health but having "mental issues." Police described conditions at the illegal personal care home as "unlivable" and among the worst they'd ever seen. The men were said to be confined to a basement described as a tall crawl space. They allegedly had no access to a bathroom and used 5-gallon buckets in which to relieve themselves. Police said they found a few bottles of water in the house, but no food.

The men were sometimes allowed into the back yard, which was surrounded by an 8-foot fence and padlocked from the outside, police said. They were subsequently placed in the care of Adult Protective Services.

The Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office on Tuesday presented the case to a Clarke County grand jury, which returned the indictment charging Heard with four counts of exploitation and intimidation of a disabled person, two counts of

neglect of a disabled person, six counts of false imprisonment and seven counts of operating an unlicensed personal care home.

Also indicted was 72-year-old Ronald Overton McKinney, who police identified as Heard's "live-in ex-husband" who also resided at the Landor Drive address. He was charged with all of the same offenses except for operating an unlicensed personal care home.

The day after the home was searched, McKinney told WSB-TV that Heard's arrested was a misunderstanding and Heard took in men she'd known for a long time.

"It was never intended to be a group home, nothing like that," McKinney told the television station "She took in one, two, three, next thing you know, I think she had four. At no time were they held against their will."

McKinney admitted Heard did not have a license to run a group home, and took $400 from each resident for food and rent, according to WSB-TV.

Heard and McKinney were both booked into the Clarke County Jail Thursday night and held without bail being set.

Through a previous open records request for police reports, the Athens Banner-Herald in May learned complaints concerning possible illegal activities at 200 Landor Drive went back more than a year prior to it being searched. According to one report, someone called police in June 2014 to report having heard from a woman who said people were "being held hostage and being forced to take pills."

Police at the time attempted to conduct a welfare check at the residence, but no one was home and no one could be heard inside the house. The woman who allegedly told of people being held hostage could not be contacted, according to the report.

Five months later, in November 2014, a woman reported to police someone impersonated her when picking up prescription medication at a local pharmacy. She named Heard as the suspect. She further told police she formerly lived with Heard, who allegedly "used to abuse her in various ways" and gave "her and other girls crack and prostituting them out."

Then in search warrant filed with the court in July, it was revealed police knew of allegations of wrongdoing concerning Heard as early as May 2013. A detective then learned a man suffering from a mental handicap was allegedly "lured with alcohol and drugs into being 'cared for' by Ms. Heard," according to the warrant. In an interview, the man told the detective he was held against his will for two weeks at the Landor Drive residence. He told the detective he was at the Triangle Plaza in east Athens when approached by Heard, who asked him if he wanted to have "fun."

According to the warrant, the man said after buying liquor and beer, Heard took him to Landor Drive, where he blacked out and later woke up naked in a locked room. He alleged remained in the room for several days, with Heard periodically giving him food and alcohol. When he demanded to go home, she allegedly pointed a gun to his head and told him he wasn't going anywhere, the warrant states.

The man said he was "freed" after he and Heard went to a bank and withdrew $730 from his account. He said he was reluctant to call police because he did not think anyone would believe him, according to the warrant.

When the detective interviewed Heard, she was said to be in possession of five EBT cards belonging to residents at the house on Landor Drive.

"Ms. Heard explained that she just manages these cards while her live-in ex-husband has them under his name," according to the warrant.

Follow Criminal Justice reporter Joe Johnson at www.facebook.com/JoeJohnsonABH or www.twitter.com/JoeJohnsonABH.