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News Nearby: Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Operating Squalid Nursing Home & Defrauding Medicare

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Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Operating Squalid Nursing Homes, Defrauding Medicare

A Sandy Springs man who operated three Rome nursing homes, where residents were near starvation, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Monday.

The three Rome nursing homes operated by George and Rhonda Houser of Sandy Springs had leaky roofs, broken air conditioning and heating units, according to the United States Attorney's Office. Residents’ rooms were filled with bugs and rodents, rotting garbage in dumpsters were nearby, and mildew and foul odors swelled in the air.

On Monday, George Houser was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of conspiring with his wife to defraud the Medicare and Georgia Medicaid programs by billing them for “worthless services” in the operation of three nursing homes.

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Man Airlifted with Severe Injuries, Fiancé Blames Hit-and-Run Driver

Jacob Elisha Downer, 29 of Marietta, was airlifted to Grady for treatment Friday at approximately 10:20 p.m. but doesn't remember a thing that happened, according to Gordy Wright, spokesman for the Georgia State Highway Patrol.

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Downer was found in the roadway on Meadowview Rd. in Lithia Springs.  There was no visible evidence on his clothing, no witnesses, no one who heard anything, no roadway evidence and no vehicle evidence at the scene, Wright said in an email.

The father of three sustained broken bones, has a severed thigh muscle, and may need bone skin grafts from road rash, according to a report by myfoxatlanta.com. The man's fiancé, Lindsay Davenport, said that it will be at least two months before he'll be able to stand on that leg, according to doctors.

Police: Suspected DUI Driver Steers into Crash Scene

A Cartersville man early Sunday morning allegedly drove into the scene of an accident where injured motorists were being treated in the roadway by emergency medical crews.

Michael David Ledbetter, 28, of Brent Circle, was arrested and charged with DUI and driving on a closed roadway. He allegedly drove into the area blocked off by a fire truck and traffic cones, trapping a cone under his red 1996 Chevy Camero. Several patients were lying in the roadway following a three-vehicle traffic crash on Highway 41 at Cassville Road in Cartersville, according to the incident report.

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