By Susan Bromley
Staff Writer
A woman who police sought after she bruised the resident of a Brandon Township group home, has been arraigned on a charge of vulnerable adult abuse, third degree.
Crystal Charlotte Overall, 47, of Swartz Creek, turned herself in to Brandon deputies last week after an acquaintance read the article ‘Police, DHS investigate group homes? in the Nov. 10 edition of The Citizen. Overall was arraigned on the misdemeanor charge Nov. 27 at 52-2 District Court. She was released on bond and faces a preliminary exam at 1:30 p.m., Dec. 11, in front of Judge Dana Fortinberry.
According to police and Michigan Department of Human Services reports, bruising was found on the inner thighs of a 26-year-old, severely mentally retarded resident of the Granger Home, an adult foster care group home on Granger Road, on March 27. An employee of a Waterford school where the resident attends found ‘very large? purple and red bruises in which fingerprints were clearly visible on the male victim’s thighs when she was changing his clothes. She notified other school employees and they documented the bruises with photographs. When one employee lightly placed her fingers over the bruises, the victim, who is mostly non-verbal, flinched.
DHS was notified and a social worker and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Detective Chris Pacholski went to the Granger Home to interview employees, where they learned that Overall was working a double shift at the Granger Home the night of March 26. According to reports, Overall said she was giving the victim a shower when he began falling off the shower chair. She grabbed him by the thighs to keep him from falling, she said, and admitted that she ‘applied too much pressure to his thighs.?
Another employee who had been the first to observe the bruises the following morning, said Overall did not respond to her when she asked how the bruises occurred. Nor did Overall make a written report when the bruising occurred. The home’s manager said in interviews she did not think the bruising could have been accidental and said the victim is very cooperative and also very small, about 4 feet in height and weighing only 68 pounds. Overall was suspended immediately, and later terminated from the home, where she had been employed since June 2003.
Police learned Overall was previously suspended from the Seymour Lake Home in Oxford after a resident fell backward into a television and hurt her head.
Overall also has a previous criminal history. She had a felony fraud warrant from California in 2002 and had a count of perjury dismissed in furtherance of justice. She also has a felony conviction for fraud to obtain aid from 1995.
The manager of the Granger Road Home did not return a call for comment.
Deborah Wood, Michigan DHS division director for adult foster care and home for the aged licensing, said that last year DHS completed 1,934 complaint investigations for afc homes. DHS regulates more than 4,800 afc group and family homes in Michigan.
Wood said complaints are a whole range of problems.
‘If you go back 10 years, you see that complaints ebb and flow,? she said. ‘Is it worse now than over the past 10 years? No. In the last year, new training has been provided to direct care staff that helps them identify symptoms of abuse. In all, licensees are doing a good job of providing care and our staff is out there doing their jobs in protecting vulnerable adults.?
The recent criminal charge against Overall is not the first related to a Brandon Township group home.Just over a year ago, Ortonville resident Wendy Marie Donaldson pleaded no contest to an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of Carol Christie, a severely mentally and physically disabled resident of the Oakhill Home, an AFC home on Oakhill Road.
Christie died after Donaldson, an employee of the home, left her alone in a bathtub May 11, 2006. An autopsy ruled Christie’s cause of death as anoxic encephalopathy, caused by near drowning.

The MHDS investigative report found two violations relating to Christie’s death? staffing requirements and resident protection. The report notes that Donaldson attempted to bathe two residents simultaneously while working alone during the time of the incident.
Brandon Township has about 20 group and family afc homes. DHS was recently called to the Walnut Hills AFC Home on Seymour Lake Road after police discovered a registered sex offender was living there. The man is the son of the woman who owns the home. No criminal charges were brought, but DHS informed the woman that the man was not permitted to be there and told her to remove him.
Wood could not comment specifically on that case, but said in April 2006, a new statute was passed where all new hires in AFC facilities must be fingerprinted, a tactic that should pick up people who have been convicted of sex offenses.
‘Household members are required to have good moral character and there is a criminal record check that is also done on household members,? Wood said. ‘If someone moves in, they’re supposed to report to us.?
A home losing their license depends on the severity of the offense, how substantial it is, or if the home has a lot of repeat offenses over time.
The Walnut Hill home, as a family home, is also under different licensing requirements than a group home. In family homes, the owner must live at the home with a maximum of six residents. In group homes, which can have up to 20 residents, staff are not required to live at the home. In general, Wood says, there are no major differences in the type of residents, yet, in a family home, CPR or first aid training for employees is not required as it is in group homes.
‘Family home rules are 23-years-old and at the time, training wasn’t considered needed,? Wood said. ‘Group home rules were passed in 1994. Family home rules need to be reviewed. They are in our regulatory plan, pending review. I would like to see requirements for first aid and CPR training.?
Wood recommends that anyone looking to place a loved one in an AFC home research the home first by visiting the DHS website www.michigan.gov/dhslicensing and also by visiting the home, meeting with staff, and asking questions.