INDIANAPOLIS — Leonard Royer uses a wheelchair and requires someone to care for him after he suffered a stroke in 2019.
However, he said the person he hired in 2022 did anything but help him.
"A week after I moved in here, he pretty much put me in the hospital for neglect and stuff because he wasn't taking care of me. I mean, he wouldn't cook for me, he would clean, but not very good and just not doing what he should have been doing," Royer said.
Royer said he was playing cards with some friends in his now empty kitchen in August when a knock came at his door. Standing on the other side of the door, he said, was his caregiver, Dewayne Finklea.
"When we answered the door, he came in and looked around and stepped back out and came in and pulled a gun on everybody and told them to put their hands up. And then I was in here in the living room and he came over to me and smacked me in the face and told me he wanted money," explained Royer.
While Royer said he didn't get away with anything, he said Finklea somehow drained his bank account.
But according to court records, this wasn't the first time he's taken from Royer.
One woman police interviewed said Finklea had a history of taking advantage and stealing from him.
After speaking with one of Royer's case managers in October, she explained how Finklea had taken advantage and abused Royer while working as his case manager. That is when he was charged.
"I get really depressed. Sometimes I get suicidal and it really messed me up, but I'm living with it," said Royer.
The Special Needs Alliance, an organization that advocates for those with disabilities, says if you think someone is abusing or exploiting someone, report it to a school, social services, or to a health care professional. The alliance also says to call police and to make a report to the state or local child or adult protective services agency.
As for Royer, the last few months he's been trying to manage without having a caregiver in hopes he's able to get into an assisted living facility.
Royer said his dad, who is in his 80s, has been helping him around the house, along with one of his case managers.
As for Finklea, he's facing charges of armed robbery, intimidation, and battery.