Woman with disabilities left strapped to toilet for nearly 8 hours, SC officials say

A woman was left strapped to a toilet seat — in the dark — for nearly eight hours at South Carolina’s Whitten Regional Center, leading to charges against two staffers, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

The victim was not identified, and SLED did not say if she suffered injuries during the ordeal.

Mariquita Antionetta Mcgowan, 35, and Jasmine Lariane Tomika Carter, 25, were arrested and charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult, SLED said in a news release.

Whitten Regional Center is a state care facility for people with “severe, lifelong disabilities” in the Clinton, about 60 miles northwest of Columbia. The victim is an adult staying at the center, SLED told McClatchy News.

Mcgowan is alleged to have used a “cloth like restraint belt” to hold the woman to the toilet seat at 10:40 p.m. on Nov. 23 and left her there until 6:21 a.m. the next day, according to warrants shared by SLED. (The belt is known as a “Toilet Pelvic Position Device,” officials said.)

Carter entered the restroom around 2:30 a.m., turned on the lights and saw the woman, then exited, the report says. Carter is accused of helping “facilitate the neglect” when she failed to help the woman when she first found her, the warrants say.

It was Carter who returned the next morning to undo the restraint belt and free the woman, the report says.

SLED investigated the case at the request of the Whitten Regional Center. The case will be prosecuted by the 8th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, officials said.