3 home health care employees abused man with autism: Cops
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Background: Benjamin Tambe (KSAT). Top inset: Tony Israel. Bottom inset: Harrison Odiri (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office).

Charges have been filed against three employees of a Texas group home, who are accused of abusing a 29-year-old man with autism by “smacking him around,” tying him up, and forcibly administering medication.

Tony Israel, 45, is charged with assaulting a disabled individual, while Benjamin Tambe, 53, and Harrison Odiri, 52, are accused of unlawful restraint. All three have also been charged with injury to a disabled person due to criminal negligence.

More from Law&Crime: ‘One too many’: A preschool teacher allegedly lashed out at a 4-year-old boy with autism for throwing crayons at her, according to police reports.

“This is a heartbreaking case,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters at a press conference. “This is an enraging case.”

Salazar described the non-verbal man as “completely helpless” and has likely suffered abuse at the hands of the suspects before during his seven years at the facility.

The investigation began on Thursday when the victim’s father alerted deputies to the abuse at Maofu Home Healthcare in the 7300 block of Highland Drive.

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Salazar said the father suspected abuse, so — unbeknownst to staff — he inserted a secret camera inside his son’s bedroom. The sheriff highlighted two videos that allegedly showed abuse. The men were allegedly captured on video trying to get the victim to bed but he was uncooperative and went into a defensive posture. The suspects began “smacking him around” and tied him up with a sweatshirt before forcing him on the bed, cops said.

In the other video, Tambe and Odiri allegedly held him on the ground and squirted some liquid medication into his mouth.

“What we see is nothing short of abuse of this poor, helpless man,” Salazar said. “It’s pretty disgusting to watch the fact that these people who call themselves home health care aides are just abusing this man beyond belief.”

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