Two Mabley workers charged with battering residents

DIXON – Two former workers at the Jack Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon are facing felony charges in connection with battering two residents in two separate incidents, in one case breaking a man’s nose.

According to the charging document, mental health technician Ashley M. Flores, 35, of Sterling, punched a female resident of the home for the intellectually and developmentally disabled on June 22, 2022.

She is charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct, each punishable by two to seven years in prison.

Elizabeth D. Mayes, 24, of Dixon, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery and one count of official misconduct.

According to her charging document, Mayes, who also was a mental health technician, broke the nose of a man with a profound intellectual disability who lives at the center.

Both women have initial appearances Sept. 27 in Lee County court.

Neither are still employed at the center, Director Kelly Sullivan said Friday.

Mayes was convicted of electronic harassment April 7, 2022, in Lee County and sentenced to 1½ years of probation. Two counts of nonconsensual dissemination of a sexual image were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

On Sept. 27, 2020, Eric A. McGhee, 52, of Dixon, also a Mabley mental health technician, was charged with aggravated battery, official misconduct and abuse of a long-term health care facility resident for throwing a resident onto a toilet.

The abuse charge was dismissed, and McGhee subsequently was found guilty at a bench trial of the first two counts.

He was sentenced March 18, 2022, to 2½ years of probation but appealed the conviction, saying that the state failed to provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed official misconduct and that his conviction violated the one-act, one-crime doctrine.

The 4th District Appellate Court agreed with his second argument, and on Jan. 1 ordered the trial court to dismiss whichever was the lesser charge.

Because both convictions were for Class 3 felonies, however, and the sentences were concurrent, there was no lesser charge and no material change. The two charges were merged, and McGhee was convicted of official misconduct on May 25.