2 adult foster homes in Horace shuttered after vulnerable residents left without caregiver

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum By Tasha Carvell Today at 5:01 AM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? HORACE — Two adult foster care homes located in Horace were shut down and their owner and operator's license was revoked by the state of North Dakota last week, after deputies determined that residents were left locked inside at least one of the facilities without any staff present, despite a 24/7 care requirement. Cass County sheriff's deputies responded to an Ebenezer Medical Care and Foster Home facility in the early morning hours of Oct. 27 after a resident of the home called 911 to report he had fallen and injured his arm. ADVERTISEMENT The 66-year-old man told dispatchers he did not know the address where he was but that he was in a "treatment facility," court documents said, and dispatchers used a locating tool to determine the address he was calling from was 6706 71st Ave. S. in Horace. When a deputy arrived at 2:13 a.m., the Horace Fire Department was already on scene and reported they had been unable to make entry into the home to assist the injured man. "Non-forced entry was attempted in multiple different ways, to include a keypad on the door, a lockbox that contained a key outside the door, and attempting to contact the staff at Ebenezer ... none of these attempts were successful," court documents said. After about a half hour, the injured resident was able to make his way out of the home by opening the garage door, at which point he received medical care, according to court documents. He told emergency personnel on scene that Wilton Travers, the home's owner and operator, was supposed to be there, but deputies searched the home and did not find Travers or any other caretakers on site. Another resident, who was bedridden, was located during the search, court documents said. Investigators "discovered the system that locked the front door could only be accessed via an application on a phone that the two residents did not have access to," according to court documents. The responding deputy found a list of caretakers and their phone numbers inside the home and "placed multiple calls" before he eventually got in contact with Travers, who said he would be there shortly, court documents said. ADVERTISEMENT When Travers arrived at 3:11 a.m. he told the deputy he had only been gone for five minutes, and he had been at the other Ebenezer care facility making food. "(Travers) was confronted with the fact that emergency services had been on scene since at least 0213 hours," court documents said. "(Travers) was unable to provide a clear answer." The following day, a North Dakota Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) case manager told investigators the state planned to revoke Travers' license for the foster home based on the incident, and that the guardians for the residents of the home where the incident took place, as well as those at another Ebenezer home located at 6721 67th Ave. S. in Horace, had been contacted to inform them the residents of those facilities would need to be placed elsewhere. The HCBS case manager confirmed that residents in the two homes "were all vulnerable adults, and that the state had required that both homes be staffed 24/7 based on the mental cognition/medical state of ... the individuals," court documents said. On Friday, Nov. 6, guardians and moving services were dispatched to the Ebenezer homes and the process of relocating the vulnerable adults was initiated. Investigators also applied that day for a search warrant for the surveillance footage from cameras located inside both homes in an effort to determine whether criminal charges for neglect are appropriate. Attempts to reach staff at the state HCBS agency or Ebenezer Medical Care and Foster Home were unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon. Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags CRIME AND COURTS CASS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE HORACE By Tasha Carvell Tasha covers the criminal justice system and North Dakota's congressional delegation for The Forum. She can be reached at 701-241-5527 or [email protected] . 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