They Called It a Care Home — It Was Actually a ‘House of Horror’ Where Elderly Residents Were Tied Up

Authorities in Bulgaria rescued dozens of elderly people found forcibly tied up and locked in their rooms at illegal care homes, completely disconnected from the outside world.

The 75 elderly people were found tied up in two facilities in Yagoda, a village in central Bulgaria. The residents were forcibly sedated or kept under the influence of narcotics and locked in their rooms — which had the handles of their windows removed — the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria said in a statement. 

The Ministry of Justice said in their statement that the locations had been registered as care facilities for the elderly, but the owner recently gave up his license and re-registered the facilities as “rooms for rent” so that social health services wouldn’t conduct inspections. 

Georgi Georgiev, the Minster of Justice, described the rooms as “houses of horror” and mentioned that it took the department several hours to enter the facilities after being denied entry twice.

“A total of 75 Bulgarian citizens – someone’s mothers, fathers, grandparents. Held in conditions that violate all human rights,” Georgiev said in the statement. “Some of the people are in very poor health.” 

A majority of the families of the elderly people involved were unable to accept them or refused them, Deputy Social Minister Ivan Krastev said in a statement. 14 have been placed in other care facilities, four are accommodated in a nearby town and eight are still in the hospital. 

“Phones were confiscated and residents had no contact with the outside world or access to their ID cards,” Georgiev said to the Bulgarian News Agency. “They were told their phones would be returned if relatives called.” 

Georgiev added that there was no permanent medical care for the residents, per the local outlet. Doctors only came if a resident died and unqualified staff were administering injections. 

Five people have been arrested in connection with the incident, according to the Ministry of Justice. 

The regional prosecutor’s office said to CBS News that the five people are being investigated for kidnapping, violence and negligence. “According to testimonies, one older woman had not left the establishment for four years,” the office said in a statement. 

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The prosecutor’s office said in their statement that another resident who tried to flee, but was caught, beaten and left unconscious, per the outlet. 

Deputy Social Minister Krastev said in a statement that in Bulgaria, over the last four years, 2,090 inspections of care facilities have been carried out and 240 licenses have been revoked so far.