Superintendent of state facility investigated for abuse retires

ST. LOUIS -- The head of a state-run center for the mentally disabled retired Tuesday, one day after a social services official was appointed to temporarily oversee operations while the state investigates abuse allegations at the center.

Bob Eden, superintendent of the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center, left the center immediately after announcing his resignation on Tuesday, said Anne Deaton, director of the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Deaton said Eden was not forced to leave. Attempts to contact Eden Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

Jerry Clubbs, the deputy director for the state's habilitation centers, was appointed Monday to supervise the center's operations. A department spokeswoman told the Associated Press that day that no one at the center had been fired or asked to resign.

On Tuesday, Department of Mental Health director Dorn Schuffman appointed Clubbs to oversee the center's immediate operations.

Eden's departure was announced in a memo from Deaton to the center's staff. It urged cooperation with investigators sent there by Schuffman.

There are two internal investigations and one police investigation into the death of George Holmes, 33, and the beating of Dawn Kirkendall, 25.

Death of patientHolmes died Aug. 3. His relatives were told Holmes suffered a heart attack and fell, but they say his body looked as though he'd been beaten. The St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office has not determined a cause of death.

Kirkendall was found with black eyes at the center. Five workers are on paid leave while the cases are being investigated.

"The recent incidents at Bellefontaine Habilitation Center are at the center of our attention today," Deaton wrote in the memo, "but we owe it to our consumers and their families and guardians, to our dedicated staff and to the advocates for the persons with disabilities and the public at large to keep probing."

Schuffman also announced that an assessment team will be sent to Marshall Habilitation Center in Marshall, Mo. to investigate cases of abuse or neglect and evaluate levels of staffing and oversight.

Information from: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch http://www.stltoday.com