Employees hired to protect disabled charged with abuse

Two employees of the South Carolina agency for people who are mentally and physically disabled have been charged with abusing a vulnerable adult and failing to report abuse. Three other employees of the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs were charged with failure to report the abuse.

The State Law Enforcement Division said Friday that 44-year-old Terrance David Jefferson was charged after investigators say he put his knee in the stomach of a 28-year-old client of the Midlands Center. Warrants also charge 37-year-old Erica Deshawn Outen with punching the client in the eye.

Agency spokeswoman Lois Park Mole says the employees were placed on administrative leave Aug. 10. Other facility workers reported the assault.