Woman charged with neglect

A Greenwood woman was charged with neglect after police said her grandmother suffered severe bed sores for months and was dehydrated and malnourished while in her care, according to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Theresa Wilson, 44, was charged with a felony count of neglect of a dependent and faces three to 16 years in prison.

Police were called to the emergency room at Community Hospital South over the weekend after Wilson’s 85-year-old grandmother was brought in. She had multiple, severe bed sores, was dehydrated and appeared to not have eaten for several days and had a critically low blood pressure, according to the news release from the prosecutor’s office.

Wilson told police she was the caregiver for her grandmother and had been for about 20 years. She also told police she would use her grandmother’s Social Security payments to pay her own bills, the release said.

Nurses told police the woman’s condition was consistent with someone who had not been cared for in a long time and that the bed sores were so bad they could require surgery to close the wounds, according to the Greenwood Police Department report.

The doctor told police the woman showed signs of extreme neglect that had occurred over a long period of time. She was septic, several of her sores were infected, and she was unable to make decisions for herself, the report said.

She was transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit, the report said.

Wilson told police she lived with her grandmother, her son and her boyfriend. She told police she and her boyfriend work opposite shifts and care for her grandmother, the report said.

She first told police she had known about the bed sores for about a month. When the detective told her about the severity of the sores, she said she had known about them for three months, had been treating them herself and had not yet had a chance to take her grandmother to the hospital because of her work schedule, the report said.

Wilson also told police that each month she would withdraw $1,030 from her grandmother’s account, which came from Social Security payments and her grandfather’s pension. She would then use that money to pay her own bills, including her rent and utilities. Wilson told police she also worked, but investigators found the money wasn’t enough to support her bills and lifestyle, the police report said.

She also told police that her grandmother was her responsibility and that she was guilty, the report said.

Wilson has been arrested.