City warns group home to shape up

ALBUQUERQUE - The City of Albuquerque handed a group home for the mentally challenged a serious warning; Shape up, or be shut down.

The Safe City Strike Force said the home known as the Hilton House put residents’ lives in danger.

Staff at the Hilton House admitted to the city they locked residents in their rooms for safety reasons.

City officials called it a disaster waiting to happen.

“If a fire were to break out there it would have been devastating, there could have been a significant loss of life,” T.J. Wilham, the city’s public safety spokesperson, said Monday.

A resident from the home located at 4316 Hilton Avenue NE called 911 last Tuesday, and said they wanted to be “taken out of jail.”

An Albuquerque Fire Department lieutenant was among those who responded and noticed he couldn’t leave because of double-sided locks.

The Strike Force tried to search the home, but wasn’t allowed in by the management company, OPTIHEALTH INC, which owns at least four other facilities around Albuquerque, according to city officials.

The city got a search warrant and Wilham said they found locks outside the doors of the three residents’ bedrooms.

He said some doors had three locks each.

Also, there were bars outside the windows that don’t open from the inside.

A Strike Force member stopped by the home Monday and said they are making changes.

So far smoke detectors have been added to each room and the double-sided bolts were removed.

City officials plan to visit the home everyday until administrators fix all the problems.

“We are watching them very closely,” Wilham said. “Not just this group home, but all the other homes that this company owns as well.”

Wilham said inspectors did not find any signs of abuse.