Gwinnett County charges 4 after Snellville care home search

gwinnett county police charged four people after a search of two homes on Pond Edge Road in Snellville turned up 14 elderly and disabled residents living inside unlicensed personal care homes. One resident with dementia was taken to the hospital after officers entered the properties on April 30.

The four suspects were arrested on May 5 and booked into the Gwinnett County Jail. Each faces two counts of operating an unlicensed personal care home, according to police.

Pond Edge Road search

Officers searched the homes after receiving reports that the properties were being used as unauthorized care facilities. Ryan Winderweedle, a Gwinnett County Police corporal, said officers found expired medications, expired foods and expired drinks while carrying out the search warrant.

“They located expired medications, expired foods, expired drinks when conducting a search warrant, took photos of the living conditions and went from there.”

The search covered two homes, and police said they found 14 people living inside them. The case centers on whether those homes were operating without the license required for personal care facilities.

Adult Protective Services order

Winderweedle said one suspect was trying to reach back out to residents and get them to return after Adult Protective Services issued a cease-and-desist order the day before. “One of the suspects was reaching back out to residents trying to get them to come back when, the previous day, adult protective services issued a cease-and-desist order meaning they couldn’t operate anymore and didn’t have license,” he said.

That sequence left police with two separate points in time: the April 30 search that documented the living conditions, and the May 5 arrests that followed. Police have not released additional information about the conditions inside the homes or the identities of the residents involved.

Gwinnett County residents

Winderweedle urged families to act if they suspect a relative is in a similar facility. “If you feel like your loved one or family member is in a facility like this reach out and have a police report done and detectives will look into it,” he said.

For families with an older or disabled relative in a care setting, the practical step is to report the concern to police so detectives can review the facility. In this case, the county’s response moved from reports of unauthorized care, to a warrant search, to arrests and jail bookings within five days.