Son took days to report mom’s fatal fall, SC officials say. He’s headed to prison
A South Carolina man accused of waiting days to report his 92-year-old mother’s fatal fall is going to prison, officials said.
Mack Adams Gaines was ordered to serve two decades behind bars after he was convicted April 19 of “unlawful neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death,” according to prosecutors in Oconee County, roughly 45 miles west of Greenville.
“This was a senseless act of neglect that ultimately cost a defenseless 92-year-old woman her life,” David R. Wagner, 10th Judicial Circuit solicitor, said April 20 in a news release.
Fletcher N. Smith Jr., an attorney representing Gaines, in an email to McClatchy News said he intends to “appeal the conviction because the caregiver law in South Carolina is vague.”
The case is linked to a call that prosecutors said Gaines made on Dec. 18, 2017. That’s when he reportedly reached out for medical help for his mom, Alma Louise Gaines, who fell inside the home where they both lived.
“EMS and paramedics discovered Ms. Gaines had in fact fallen four days prior to their being called, and she had not moved or been given adequate care during that time,” the solicitor’s office wrote.
She died from her injuries on Jan. 17, 2018, officials said.
Mack Adams Gaines was arrested the day after the call. Years later, records now show the 62-year-old Seneca man was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Son took days to report mom’s fatal fall, SC officials say. He’s headed to prison."
