Inset: Arizona caregiver Mark Sampson. Background: The Phoenix neighborhood where Mark Sampson worked at a group home and allegedly gagged a nonverbal man with cerebral palsy (KNXV/YouTube).
An Arizona caregiver allegedly used a washcloth and socks to gag a nonverbal man with cerebral palsy at a Phoenix group home.
“There was a washcloth stuffed in the victim”s mouth, and two socks were tied together around the victim’s head to the point where it left red marks on the victim’s face,” explained Ryan Dill, assistant attorney general with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, as Mark Sampson appeared in court last week on a charge of vulnerable adult abuse under circumstances likely to produce death or serious physical injury.
“Pictures show the victim absolutely terrified,” Dill alleged, according to local ABC affiliate KNXV, which covered Sampson’s initial court appearance. “This is an incredibly egregious violation of human dignity and the law.”
A probable cause affidavit obtained by KNXV says Sampson was a certified caregiver at a Phoenix group home and was providing care to the victim on March 19 when he gagged him. Sampson allegedly put blankets over the victim after stuffing the washcloth in his mouth and securing it with the socks.
According to the affidavit, the victim was unable to remove the gag due to extreme contracture of his arms and hands and had little to no use of his fine motor skills. The man was also unable to call for help because he is nonverbal, KNXV reports.
“The most vulnerable members of society — namely an individual who is afflicted with cerebral palsy — he is non-ambulatory and nonverbal,” Dill said in court. “His arms are contracted in such a way that he can’t even move and he cannot make a noise.”
Staff took the victim to a local hospital after finding him and he was treated for “abrasions around the outside of much of his mouth, and ligature marks on the sides of his neck,” according to the affidavit.
Sampson was arrested and charged on June 24. He has reportedly denied gagging the victim, claiming someone launched the accusations against him in an attempt to get him fired.
“Some sort of setup,” Sampson said in court last week.
He is being held on a $25,000 secured bond.
