A Maryland home for people with mental health issues has been shut down and its residents relocated to other facilities after a 56-year-old resident wandered away and wasn’t found for three weeks.
As News4 reported on the disappearance of Marcellus Treadwell, whose family wasn’t told he’d left until two weeks later, Prince George’s County was shutting down the group home.
“We are so thankful for your level of intensity and concern for our story,” Treadwell’s sister, Oreadea Treadwell, told News4. “We're grateful, but it is just the first step.”
Prince George’s County's Local Behavioral Health Authority shut down the Largo home after it failed an inspection of its conditions Thursday.
We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.
“This is an active investigation, but we were at their Prince George’s County office yesterday and again today,” Local Behavioral Health Authority acting manager O'Tilia Hunter said. “We went to the home where this individual was yesterday and we closed that home. So it's not so much what they say. It's what we find in our investigation.”
Marcellus Treadwell was found sleeping on the streets of D.C. by a family friend three weeks and two days after he left the home. His family said his care providers told police but never contacted them.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
“There is something that has happened with the level of accountability in these programs, these group homes, the people that run them, the people that monitor them,” Oreadea Treadwell said. “The monitors need to be monitored.”
Neighbors have complained about the group home.
“I don't think someone is there to look after those guys,” Austin Onwuaso said.
Psychotherapeutic Services, the company that operates the home, has not responded to a request for an interview and has declined to release a statement.
The county says the home has 30 days to correct deficiencies. Then the county has to reinspect it before anyone can move back.
Psychotherapeutic Services is licensed by Maryland to provide mental health assistance, but it's inspected by Prince George's County.
The home passed its last inspection last year, according to the county.
