SMYRNA, Ga. — Newly uncovered records are providing more insight into a series of sexual assault allegations at Ridgeview Institute in Smyrna following the arrest of a former employee accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old patient.
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Channel 2 searched inspection records from the Georgia Department of Community Health’s Healthcare Facility Regulation Division database and found more than 53 complaints over the past eight years that prompted state inspections at the facility. Those complaints involved a range of issues, including allegations of sexual assault.
Smyrna police told Channel 2 Action News this is not the first time officers have investigated reports of sex crime allegations at the facility.
“This is not the first time that we have responded to a sexual assault complaint at Ridgeview,” said Smyrna Police PIO Lt. Meredith Holt.
Channel 2 requested police statistics and found Smyrna police investigated 40 sex crime allegations at Ridgeview dating back to 2021. While some of those investigations resulted in arrests, most of the cases were closed without charges.
The latest criminal case involves a former Ridgeview employee accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl one day after she was admitted to the facility.
“Something was taken from her that she can’t get back or explain,” the girl’s mother told Channel 2.
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“This is the first time that I can remember that it is an employee who is the suspect,” Lt. Holt said.
Channel 2 reviewed state inspection reports available through the Georgia Department of Community Health’s online database and uncovered violations cited stemming from problems in 2024.
According to the inspection report, allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and sexual assault were not tracked, investigated or reported to the facility’s governing board.
State investigators found seven incidents were not investigated or included in the facility’s 2024 incident log, including two alleged rapes and Two alleged sexual assaults.
The report also found the facility’s chief operating officer was fired in 2024 for failing to properly investigate allegations. The state’s corrective action plan required Ridgeview to document incidents in patients’ medical records, follow proper incident reporting procedures and explained to the facility how to accurately complete incident reports.
Ridgeview Institute in Smyrna has declined to respond to Channel 2’s multiple media inquiries and kicked our news crew off the property.
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