According to a BBC report, Curtis Keith Bankston, a resident of the US state of Georgia, and his wife were arrested for allegedly keeping eight disabled people locked in the basement of their home.
According to the report, the authorities discovered eight physically or mentally challenged people, aged between 25 and 65 years. Following their discovery, officials called Georgia’s Division of Aging Services and Human Services and placed them all under appropriate medical care as well as housing, according to a statement released by officials.
Police said Curtis and his wife leased the property for at least 14 months and ran a ‘personal care home’. They allege that both imprisoned the victims without their consent. He went on to say that according to a report in Atlanta-based daily The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis used the guise of a church to operate the facility, named One Step of Faith 2 Chance. The police also alleged that the husband-wife duo took control of the finances of the victim ‘residents’.
Curtis and his wife, Sophia Sim-Bankston, are both charged with false imprisonment. Police said both Curtis and Sophia locked patients in basements for parts of each day using a deadbolt.
Curtis’s lawyer, Dexter Wimbish, denied all allegations and was present with religious leaders. “Never was anyone held against their will. There was no kidnapping. There is no cheating here. It is only a Christian man who was following his call to help those in need,” Wimbish was quoted as saying by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Vimbish said he would not allow an “attack” on the ministry.
One Step of Faith 2Chance, based in Griffin, Georgia’s capital, Atlanta, registered the program with state officials, but could not comply with local ordinances, so failed to obtain a license.
The incident came to light when emergency workers and firefighters at Griffin arrived at Bankston’s care home to treat a resident who had suffered a stroke. As Atlanta-based news agencies report, they climbed through a window to reach the patient as the basement door was bolted using a double-lock.
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