CADDO VALLEY, Arkansas — An Arkadelphia man is accused of purposely backing a golf cart into a resident of the Arkadelphia Human Development Center.
The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office assigned a special agent of its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to investigate the case, which was also investigated internally.
The special agent who spearheaded the investigation spent six weeks reviewing evidence from the Oct. 1, 2024, incident and interviewing AHDC staff about the allegations against 19-year-old Takobe Larry, who at the time was a certified nursing assistant at the facility.
Court documents filed with the Clark County Circuit Clerk’s Office allege that Larry purposely shifted a Club Car into reverse and backed over the client, who suffered injuries that were treated at the facility.
Investigators are pointing to the fact that, at the time of the incident, the golf cart was backed up to a residence on facility grounds, and that the vehicle sounds a loud alarm when shifted into reverse. Investigators additionally learned from an eyewitness that Larry and the client “didn’t like each other” and that Larry backed over him “to prove a point,” a probable cause affidavit notes.
During the internal investigation, Larry reportedly said he accidentally backed over the client, then panicked and got off the cart to check on him. His version of events, however, didn’t line up with what was captured on video. Larry was given a drug test and placed on administrative leave. His employment with AHDC has since been terminated. He declined an interview with the AG investigator.
Larry’s passenger, who was riding on the back seat of the cart, was initially investigated for failure to report, an allegation that was unsubstantiated by AHDC.
The client suffered injuries to his arm/shoulder, both knees and an ankle. The nurse who treated the client, no longer an AHDC employee, cleaned a wound on his knee and offered a bandage. She told the AG investigator that staff treated the incident as though it “was no big deal,” the affidavit states.
The AHDC investigator also admitted that, upon reviewing video footage, the incident appeared “more intentional than staff had let on.”
After interviewing the eight staffers named in the affidavit, the AG investigator determined that Larry acted maliciously, and pursued charges. He faces a felony charge of Abuse of Adults, a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000. The case will be prosecuted by Gabrielle Davis-Jones, assistant Attorney General – Medicaid and Disability Fraud Division. Larry is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.