Published: Thursday, May. 21, 2009

Updated: Thursday, May. 21, 2009

Woman, 96, left at local shelter

Officials call it ‘dumping’; niece disputes that

BRADENTON — A North Carolina woman left her 96-year-old aunt at a local Salvation Army shelter, then left for a Walt Disney World vacation with no plans to return for her, officials said Wednesday.

Now the niece, who disputes officials’ version of events, could face criminal charges in what officials are calling one of the worst local cases of “granny dumping” that they’ve ever seen.

“To take someone hundreds of miles and just dump them, that’s at the far end of the spectrum,” said M. Ashley Butler of Aging Safely Inc., Ruth Smith’s emergency temporary guardian.

Smith now is in Manatee Memorial Hospital for observation and testing while Butler plans to pursue criminal charges against Smith’s niece, Beverly Edwards of Arden, N.C.

Edwards dropped Smith off at the Salvation Army’s shelter at 1204 14th St. W. on Sunday night.

Butler said shelter employees testified during an emergency court hearing Wednesday that Edwards left several bags containing Smith’s medications, urine-soaked clothes and rotten food. Employees also said Edwards, who was not at the hearing, told them she had no plans to return for her aunt.

“They couldn’t wait to leave, got the bags out of the car as fast as they could and literally pushed her out of the car,” Butler said of Edwards and her foster children who were with her.

But Edwards, reached by cell phone in Orlando, said that’s not what happened.

She contends she made prior arrangements with the Salvation Army to temporarily leave her aunt there until she could be placed in an assisted-living facility.

“I thought I was doing the right thing, putting her in a safe place until she had a permanent place to stay,” Edwards said. “I didn’t dump her. I love her.”

Butler said shelter employees accepted Smith “because they knew she was in peril,” but did not agree to house her as Edwards contends. Salvation Army officials declined to comment about Smith, citing confidentiality.

Edwards said she removed her aunt from a Punta Gorda nursing home and moved her to North Carolina two years ago. But Edwards said she grew increasingly unable to care for her aunt, who refused to go to a facility in North Carolina and wanted to return to Florida instead.

So Edwards said she called local assisted-living facilities, nursing homes and housing authorities about taking her aunt and had no luck, but was referred to the local Salvation Army’s emergency shelter. She said the agency agreed to take Smith until paperwork could be completed to place her in an assisted-living facility.

“I was trying to find a good place for my aunt,” Edwards said. “I want her to be taken care of properly.”

But a volunteer attorney for Aging Safely said that’s not what Edwards did.

“The Salvation Army is not an appropriate place for her,” said Erika Dine, who filed motions to have Aging Safely appointed as Smith’s emergency temporary guardian and to determine Smith’s level of incapacity.

After Edwards left the shelter, employees reported the episode to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Butler said. The agency launched an investigation and called Aging Safely, which is the public guardian for Manatee and DeSoto counties.

The Bradenton Police Department and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said they have not opened investigations.

Smith’s plight is not that unusual at the Salvation Army shelter: Manager Joanell Greubel said an elderly person has been left at the shelter by family members or caregivers an average of once a year in the eight years she’s been there.

Duane Marsteller, transportation/growth and development reporter, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2630.