Owners abandon Mount Gilead adult care home

Department of Health and Human Services officials said Amy and Larry Patton informed them Tuesday they would have to close the Tillery Chase home because of delays in payments from the state Medicaid office. Local and state officials started helping the couple wind down operations, but Gov. Pat McCrory said Friday that they then skipped out on their 47 frail residents in the middle of the night Wednesday.

"We understand they just came in and took the computers and left," McCrory said during an appearance at a North Carolina Association of County Commissioners meeting in Raleigh. "We want to compliment the staff who came in to work and stuck around to help these people."

DHHS spokeswoman Julie Henry said computers, televisions and an ice maker were gone when staff came to work Thursday morning.

"The residents woke up and had no idea what was going on,” Henry said.

Montgomery County officials and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office worked with a state crisis team to find new places for all of the residents by Thursday night, she said.

DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos has created a task force to figure out how to make sure the situation cannot happen again.

No charges have been filed against the Pattons, who also own two Guilford County adult care homes that closed. Both of those facilities provided notice before shutting down.

Tillery Chase was threatened with having its license revoked in November after a complaint investigation.