'We have seen the video': Owner of Helping Hands group home speaks about abuse allegations

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We have new developments in the story of a caregiver hitting a severely autistic man outside a Milwaukee group home.

We spoke with one of the owners of Helping Hands. He now tells us that caregiver was fired.

We tracked down Helping Hands co-owner Alex Mayfield through business records and then we spoke with him over the phone.

He said the caregiver caught on camera hitting a 31-year-old man was reported to authorities.

It comes as more families are leveling more abuse allegations against the company.

We asked Mayfield, "Are you the operator of the group home for Helping Hands at 3550 S. Sunset?" He confirmed, "Yes, I'm one of the owners."

Mayfield spoke with us for only a few minutes Tuesday evening as we tried to understand more about allegations of systemic abuse at multiple Helping Hands locations.

They came to light after a neighbor shot cell phone video of a caregiver hitting Steven, a 31-year-old severely autistic and nonverbal man.

Mayfield said, "We have seen the video. And the moment we saw the video we identified the caregiver."

Mayfield said the caregiver told them Steven bit him, and he reacted by hitting Steven.

We've been trying to speak with someone at the home all week. No one answered Monday, but someone did answer the door Tuesday.

We asked the man if he was the caregiver there. The man told us, "I am, but I can't do no talking."

We asked Mayfield what Helping Hands did after the caregiver was fired. He said they "continued the ongoing investigation and reported him to police and to everyone we're supposed to report him to."

According to state law, providers must investigate and report all allegations of abuse to the Department of Health Services. And anyone can submit a public report of alleged misconduct. DHS then investigates.

After several neighbors detailed years of police calls for concerning behavior from caregivers, we filed a records request with MPD for all calls for service at the home.

At a protest Saturday, Steven's mother Kathy was among those showing posters of bruises and cuts she claims were caused by a caregiver.

Mayfield disputes that, saying, "Those pictures weren't taken while he was with our member."

Mayfield wasn't sure how many homes his company operates, telling us, "Uh we have a number of homes, different locations."

And he didn't know how many employees are on the payroll, saying, "Uh, probably around 50. Something like that, perhaps."

And when we asked if employees had passed state-mandated background checks, Mayfield said, "Uh… yeah, I don't want to make any comments without… I just want to follow our lawyer's direction."

Alex Mayfield said a formal response to the video would be sent out by Helping Hands' attorney as early as Wednesday, though he said he did not know the name of that attorney.

We reached out to DHS for an interview about oversight and investigations of alleged misconduct but no one was available Tuesday.