LAVONIA — A non-profit watchdog group is taking a hard look at why the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services did not intervene earlier in the case of a man accused of imprisoning his family, according to reports from the Anderson Independent-Mail.
The group, The Office of the Child Advocate, provides the public and policymakers information to ensure the state's at-risk and foster children are safe.
"Our office is looking into that issue to see how it was that an entire community could live around that family for three years and no one know about them," Director Tom Rawlins said.
Raymond Daniel Thurmond, 36, was arrested early Tuesday and faces multiple counts of false imprisonment, first-degree child abuse and rape.
Authorities said Thurmond held his family as prisoners in their Beaver Creek Community mobile home for three years, forcing them to live in squalid, roach-infested conditions. He's being held without bond in the Franklin County Detention Center.
Sam Harbin is the owner of Pointe South Mobile Home Park on Ga. 17 in Franklin County. Harbin said the Thurmonds rented a trailer there for three years before he evicted them in 2005.
During that time, Harbin, who knew Thurmond had a family, and his maintenance crew suspected something was very wrong.
"His children were never seen on the playground outside with the other children. We suspected something was going on in there that wasn't good and I notified DFCS and asked them to come out."
After calling the agency twice, with no visible results, Harbin evicted Thurmond.
From there, the Thurmonds moved to Beaver Creek in Lavonia, and another three years went by before Mrs. Thurmond was able to escape with her children.
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