MAYES COUNTY, Okla. -- The Branding Brook Independent Living Center is now no longer a home to it’s 17 residents. The owner, Robyn McKinney recently signed an agreement with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to shut down the care facility.
“From all the allegations that we have right now, from our fact finding and circumstances that are gathered that we beleive that this is probably the best thing for them is for this place to be closed,” said Mayes County Sheriff’s Office Captain Rod Howell.
Just last month the Mayes County District Attorney’s Office charged McKinney with 17 counts of care taker abuse. Police arrested her on January 18th for biting a resident on the nose. However, authorities say they began investigating Branding Brook a month before McKinney's arrest Investigators learned, McKinney had been restricting the disabled residents way of living.
“We felt they weren’t getting adequate care as far as their medical issues as far as their meds, the way that it was distributed to them, the way their finances as far as money,” said Howell.
They said now that Branding Brook is closed, even more residents have come forward about McKinney’s abuse.
“They felt that they couldn’t come forward with a lot of stuff so we weren’t getting a lot of information at first, until that first assault happened and then we started getting more and more about these assaults, etc,” said Howell.
According to the agreement McKinney signed, she no longer has possession of the residents personal and medical records. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Mayes County Court on February 23rd.
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