Assisted living center owner used resident’s Social Security to buy car, SC officials say
The owner of assisted living centers deposited a resident’s Social Security check into his account — and put the money toward his own car, South Carolina officials said.
Darryl Alan Mast is also facing exploitation and neglect charges linked to two Spartanburg-area assisted living facilities. Officials said residents were put in danger at Oakridge Community Care Home Nos. 1 and 2, which are both in Inman.
A McClatchy News reporter left voicemail messages Feb. 14 at two phone numbers listed for the facilities, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The S.C. Attorney General’s office didn’t list attorney information for Mast in a Feb. 14 news release.
Mast, the owner and administrator of the Oakridge facilities, reportedly was “entrusted with the funds of a resident” in June 2021. But instead, officials said he put the resident’s $66,000 Social Security check into his own account and spent some of the money on a car.
Mast is also accused of allowing a “vulnerable adult” living at Oakridge No. 1 “to work, manage, and/or provide care to other residents at the facility, thereby placing the victim at a substantial risk of causing physical or mental injury to himself and other residents” in 2017, according to state officials.
More recently, officials said Mast exploited a resident financially and left residents without caregivers in 2021.
“Mast is believed to have failed to have a facility employee present at all times to provide care and supervision to the residents, presenting a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to these vulnerable adults,” the attorney general’s office said in its release. “The investigation revealed that on at least two separate occasions local law enforcement responded to Oakridge Community Care Home #2 due to an imminent threat of harm to the residents; in both instances, the residents were left alone without staff present.”
Mast, a 57-year-old Boiling Springs resident, is charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult, exploitation of a vulnerable adult and breach of trust with fraudulent intent. He was arrested Feb. 14 and taken to the Spartanburg County jail, according to officials.
The attorney general’s office said it worked with other state and local agencies on the investigation, which was tied to a complaint from someone concerned about the case.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Assisted living center owner used resident’s Social Security to buy car, SC officials say."
