Mentally Ill Abuse Case: 10 Years in Prison For Woman Who Ran Home

MARIETTA, GA — An Atlanta woman has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison after being convicted of operating an unlicensed personal care home in Marietta where three mentally-ill men were locked in a dank, unheated basement, and exploited for their government benefits.

Sheila Bell Hawkins, 54, was convicted on Aug. 19 of 16 charges: operating an unlicensed personal care home where people were abused, neglected or exploited; three counts of neglect of a disabled person; nine counts of abuse of a disabled person based on mental anguish, unreasonable confinement and willful deprivation of essential services; and three counts of exploitation of a disabled person, for improperly using the victims’ government benefits.

• See also: Personal Care Home Owners Kept Mentally Ill Men in Squalor, Filth

On Nov. 13, 2014, police went to Helen Bell’s residence at 335 Windy Hill Road after a report that the three men were living in deplorable conditions in the basement. From a window in the door to the walk-out basement, officers could see the men inside. They asked the officers, “Are you here to help us?”

Police secured a search warrant for the home, and Helen Bell eventually opened the door at the main level of the home and allowed detectives to enter.

Once in the unfinished, unheated basement, detectives found the three men living in filth. Their clothes were dirty and inappropriate for the freezing basement where investigators could see their breath as they exhaled. The men smelled of urine and had not bathed recently. There was active water on the concrete floor of the basement, black mold on the walls, and bedrooms barely large enough for child-size beds that had no sheets, just a blanket and pillow each. A single lamp and two windows provided all light in the basement, and a refrigerator containing bread, bologna and juice was padlocked.

The bathroom consisted of a toilet on a concrete slab floor, no doors, and a sink and tub that only had cold water.

Each of the three victims’ source of income was Social Security benefits, and they received Medicaid and/or Medicare for their medical treatment. They were clients of Sheila Hawkins’ business, Serene Reflections for Holistic Behavior Wellness, in Atlanta.

“We are accountable for everything we do, the good things, and the bad things,” ADA Jason Marbutt told the court during the sentencing hearing Thursday morning. “She still hasn’t taken responsibility for what she did.”

Cobb Superior Court Judge C. LaTain Kell called it a “shocking” case.

“Make no mistake about it: You helped place those three men in that dungeon of a basement, and you helped keep those three men in that dungeon of a basement,” Kell told Hawkins. “Whether you believe that to be true or not, the evidence that the jury ruled upon indicates that is the case.”

Kell then sentenced Hawkins to 30 years, with 10 years to serve in custody and the balance on probation. He also fined her $100,000.

Hawkins’ mother, Helen Bell, 72, previously pleaded guilty to all charges was sentenced in July to 20 years, with five years to serve in prison, and fined $5,000.

The third person charged in the case, Micah Anthony Bell-Hall, 26, who is Hawkins’ son and Bell’s grandson, received payments for one of the victims in his bank account. He pleaded guilty in May to one count of exploitation of a disabled person and was sentenced to five years probation and fined $500.

Images: Cobb Police