Clover woman accused of abusing elderly mom after wary police listen outside home
A Clover daughter was able to explain a complaint of abusing her elderly mother, but wary police said they later caught her in the act.
Deanna Ellen Huddleston, 58, was charged late Tuesday with abuse of a vulnerable adult, said Lt. Mitch Wilson of the Clover Police Department.
Clover officers hung around outside the Hilltop Lane home after two visits to the house in one day.
Police said they saw Huddleston pushing her 86-year-old mother, then heard Huddleston threatening that the older woman would end up in a retirement home.
A family member called police, asking them to check on possible abuse of the mother in a home where both live, police said.
Officers found the home generally clean and stocked with food, and they left the house, a report showed.
But Clover officers said the mother called police back later Tuesday. The mother told police Huddleston was “back to giving her trouble.”
Police went back to the home.
Huddleston told police “everything was fine,” and said her mother was just getting ill, according to the police report.
Officers “pretended to leave” and went outside, then observed the inside of the house from a front window. Police said a confrontation began inside between Huddleston and her mother.
Huddleston repeatedly yelled at her mother, including using expletives, police said.
Huddleston pushed her mother and began throwing things on the floor, police reported.
Mental abuse of the mother included the threatening the older woman would end up in a “retirement home,” the report said.
The officers went back into the house and took Huddleston into custody on the abuse charge.
Huddleston remains in the York County jail without bond.
Victims advocates were notified and other family members and neighbors agreed to help care for the mother.
This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Clover woman accused of abusing elderly mom after wary police listen outside home."