Powder Springs Caregiver Sentenced To 10 Years For Elder Neglect

MARIETTA, GA — A Powder Springs man has been sentenced to prison after being convicted of elder neglect toward a 91-year-old man who died in 2017. Cobb Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram sentenced Landon Terrel to 10 years, with five years to serve in prison and the balance on probation.

Last month, a Cobb jury found Terrel, 35,guilty of neglecting Adam Bennett, a resident of Sunrise Assisted Living Center on Johnson Ferry Road. Bennett was found on August 15 in his room with a bruised lip. Bennett told a day-shift caregiver: "He punched me," while motioning to his face, chest, and groin.

Bennett soon became unresponsive, and workers at the nursing home then called for an ambulance. He was rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, where his injuries included facial bruising, multiple rib fractures, and a collapsed lung. He never regained consciousness and died on Aug. 18.

Terrel, now 35, was the only male working the overnight shift at Sunrise that night. Terrel denied hitting Bennett and insisted he saw no facial bruising when he last checked on Bennett just before his shift ended at 6 am. But he told investigators he caught Bennett as he fell out of bed the previous evening and Bennett had banged his chest into the bed. Terrel said he checked on Bennett hourly throughout the night and that Bennett repeatedly complained of pain. Terrel admitted he used "poor judgment" in repeatedly ignoring those complaints.

Cobb's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Christopher Gulledge, ruled Mr. Bennett's death resulted from blunt force trauma as a result of assault.

Two colleagues of Terrel’s testified at Friday’s sentencing that other patients had complained about Terrel. The judge also heard Terrel had been fired from other caregiving jobs for neglecting his patients and duties.

Two of Mr. Bennett’s children and his son-in-law gave emotional victim-impact testimony.

“My dad was a strong guy who had a strong heart,” said Doug Bennett, who recounted how his father called weekly to check on his son and his family. “This man knows what he did. … He took my father away.”