Report: St. Cloud worker used drugs with vulnerable adult

An investigation by a state agency has found that an employee at an adult foster care facility in St. Cloud, Minn., used drugs with a vulnerable adult.

The investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Services also found that the worker gave the vulnerable adult money to buy drugs.

According to a memo on the investigation, the state found the staff person was responsible for neglect. That person no longer works at Riverside Montage Homes, the St. Cloud Times reported.

The facility can serve four adults and is located on 18th Street Southeast in St. Cloud. According to the report, the vulnerable adult involved has a substance use disorder and reported to an employee that another employee gave them money to buy methamphetamine.

Text messages between the vulnerable adult and the staff person back up the initial report, the investigation found. "A text from the [staff person] to the [vulnerable adult] ... stated, 'u never give money or anything before you get product,'" the memo said.

The client told the state investigator that they once used meth with the staff person outside of the facility, that the staff person got high at work and that the staff person asked the client to get meth or crack about three times.

The staff person denied providing money for drugs, the memo said. The investigator determined that the vulnerable adult was consistent and credible, while the staff person had “reasons to minimize his/her actions for fear of repercussion.”

The staff person, not the facility, was considered responsible for the neglect, according to the memo. And it was deemed "recurring maltreatment" but not "serious maltreatment," because it did not cause injury that required a doctor's care.

Montage Homes' authorized agent Bonnie Rask could not be reached on Monday, the newspaper reported.