Caretaker Arrested, Charged With Elder Neglect: Cartersville PD

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A woman accused of elder neglect is in jail Friday after a pill not prescribed for her fell out of her wallet while police were questioning her, according to authorities.

In addition to being charged with neglect to a disabled adult, elder person or resident, Inger Louise Mims of Cartersville is charged with possession of a schedule-II controlled substance. Both charges are felonies.

Mims was arrested Sunday after a niece at their residence on Beaureguard Street complained to Cartersville police that Mims was “taking advantage of her grandfather,” according to the incident report.

When questioned, Mims told the investigating officer that she helped care for the grandfather and “does not mistreat him in any way,” according to the report. But when Mims pulled out her wallet to show identification, a white pill — later identified as Gabapentin, used to control seizures and shingles — fell to the ground.

When Mims told the officer that the pill was medication for the grandfather, the officer asked for permission to search her wallet. There, he found two more white pills: tizanidine hydrochloride, a muscle relaxer; and Percocet, the brand name for oxycodone, a schedule-II controlled substance. Mims told the officer she had been prescribed the Percocet, but when she couldn’t produce a prescription she was arrested.

Mims, who is also charged with misdemeanor theft by taking and not keeping drugs in their original container, was being held as of Friday in the Bartow County Jail on $8,500 bond, according to online records.