South Carolina’s oversight of community residential care facilities includes inspections and complaint investigations, but a report of alleged violations does not automatically trigger enforcement. Park Circle Home’s license was revoked in April 2026, and the North Charleston facility no longer serves vulnerable adults, according to Live 5 News. Live 5’s reporting on the case describes complaints and inspections alongside allegations of neglect and deaths, raising questions about how the state assesses and responds to concerns.
What the oversight process provides
In a statement reported by Live 5 Investigates, the Department of Public Health said it inspects and investigates complaints at community residential care facilities, including both Park Circle locations. The department said enforcement can include denying, suspending or revoking a license, or imposing a monetary penalty. It considers the circumstances and their actual or potential effect on residents, the facility’s efforts to address violations and its compliance history. A facility found noncompliant must submit an acceptable written correction plan by the deadline in its report. Live 5 reported that the department declined multiple interview requests about the Park Circle case.
What the oversight information shows
The South Carolina Department of Public Health defines a community residential care facility as one that provides or coordinates personal care for more than 24 consecutive hours for two or more adults who are not related to the licensee within the third degree of consanguinity. The information cited here does not establish a routine inspection interval or statewide totals for enforcement actions. In the department’s statement reported above, it describes possible measures as denying, suspending or revoking a license, or imposing a monetary penalty.
South Carolina does not maintain a public database of complaints and violations against assisted living facilities, Live 5 reported. Disability Rights South Carolina says its program conducts unannounced inspections of community residential care facilities and reports serious concerns about a resident’s immediate health to appropriate authorities within 24 hours.
Complaints and criminal allegations
Records obtained through a public-records request and reviewed by Live 5 describe public health complaints and inspection reports from 2021 through 2026. The records, as reported by the outlet, list concerns about residents’ treatment, staff conduct and care, including residents’ inactivity and ability to speak freely or leave their rooms; failures to follow physician orders; an alleged threat involving a hammer; and insufficient staff. They also cite concerns about missing documentation, staff training, food and medication, injuries and residents leaving the facility. These details are based on Live 5’s account of the records.
A March 3, 2026, search led investigators to report finding two vulnerable adults locked in a room without a way to leave the building, according to WCBD News 2. The SC Daily Gazette reported the investigators’ allegation that a third resident had suffered great bodily harm after being criminally neglected in the days before the search. The Gazette reported that the Charleston County Coroner’s Office contacted the Attorney General’s Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud Unit over suspicious circumstances in Thaddeus Moose’s death, and that the referral led to charges against three caregivers.
Wilhelmina Rellora, the facility’s licensed administrator, was charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death and one count involving great bodily injury, according to ABC News 4. The article’s sources list different ages for Rellora: WCBD News 2 reported 66, while ABC News 4 reported 76. Cynthia and Reginald Kelly were charged with one count of abuse or neglect resulting in death, two counts of neglect and two counts of kidnapping, according to The Post and Courier. The second resident whose death was alleged in the case has not been publicly identified, the SC Daily Gazette reported.
Moose entered Park Circle Home in June 2024 and required some assistance, The Post and Courier reported. He was taken to the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center on April 10, 2025, and died four days later, according to WCBD News 2. The coroner ruled his death a homicide. The SC Daily Gazette reported that his death was attributed to septic shock, bronchopneumonia and dehydration associated with multiple Stage 4 pressure ulcers and osteomyelitis.
Residents’ experiences and the legal process
Live 5 reported that Rodney Creel entered Park Circle Home in November 2024 after shoulder surgery left him needing around-the-clock care. His sister, Robyn Empey, told the outlet staff had said he was doing well before he was taken by ambulance to a hospital on December 5 with severe sepsis. Live 5 reported that Creel weighed 118 pounds when he arrived and 105 pounds when hospitalized, and that he later went to hospice after declining further surgeries. He died on his 70th birthday. Empey reported his death and concerns about the facility to the Department of Public Health; Live 5 reported that no publicly documented action on her complaint followed until two years later. Empey told the outlet she believed the deaths at Park Circle Home could have been prevented.
John Frampton, chief investigator for the Attorney General’s Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud Unit, told Live 5 he could not discuss the ongoing Park Circle case. In general, he described criminal neglect cases as difficult to prove because incidents may have no witnesses and victims may be unable or afraid to report abuse. Live 5 reported that Frampton’s team had arrested 173 people for crimes related to Medicaid provider fraud and vulnerable adults since 2022.
South Carolina law allows a prison term of up to 30 years for abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death and up to 15 years for an offense resulting in great bodily injury, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. The South Carolina Code also requires referral to the appropriate prosecutor when an investigation into abuse, neglect or exploitation is complete and further action is warranted.
