Helping Hands group home in Milwaukee sued for sexual assault of resident

A Milwaukee assisted living facility that served adults with developmental disabilities is accused of housing a convicted sex offender who then attempted to sexually assault another resident, according to a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the owners of Helping Hands on 75th Street^vol St LLC, as well as local officials and case managers, were negligent when they placed an autistic, non-verbal resident in the spring of 2021 in the same home as Michael Mixon.

Mixon, then 62, attempted to sexually assault a resident. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison, where he remained until his death in August 2024.

Mixon has been charged with sexual assault twice before, including a 2016 conviction.

Now the victim’s family is looking for answers as to why and how their son was placed with Mixon in the home at 157 N. 75th Street.

“Our family has suffered severe harm and trauma as a result of this event,” the parents wrote in a letter to the judge who oversaw Mixon’s case. “His verbal vocabulary has decreased since the attack.”

There are family homes for adults type of nursing home. They accommodate one to four residents and provide support with everyday tasks that become more difficult due to physical, cognitive or age-related disabilities.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, such facilities do not require background checks on residents.

Still, the plaintiffs, represented by Cade Law Group, allege that Helping Hands owners Doran Kemp and Alex Mayfield failed to properly supervise the facility, which led to the resident’s assault.

“A simple search of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registry would show that Mixon was listed,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit also names Racine County, the organization that manages My Choice care in Wisconsin, and Lori Knapp Richland Inc., a company that coordinates care at family group homes.

Sam Hall, an attorney representing Racine County, said in a statement that the incident “involves a complex set of facts and circumstances surrounding adult group homes in Wisconsin.”

Hall said Racine County’s role is to enroll people in programs and report to the court based on information provided by managed care organizations and group homes. Courts decide on placing children in adult family homes.

“Racine County plays an extremely limited role in this process and is not responsible for housing selection,” Hall said.

Alan Mazzulla, an attorney for My Choice Wisconsin, and Eric Toler, a spokesman for Lori Knapp Cares Inc., declined to comment.

The Journal Sentinel reached out to Mayfield several times by phone and email for comment but received no response. Kemp died in 2023.

The attempted sexual assault occurred two months after the resident moved in

In Wisconsin, many residents of adult family homes receive housing and care managed care organizations like My Pick in Wisconsin. They, in turn, are supervised by county and state officials.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that My Choice Wisconsin and local officials failed to ensure that Helping Hands on 75th was a safe facility for nonverbal residents.

According to the complaint, the victim was living at another adult family home in Whitewater when an “outburst of aggressive behavior” led to a temporary stay at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

Attorneys say that in April 2021, Racine County filed a request to relocate the resident to Helping Hands on 75th Street.

The lawsuit says Mixon was already living there.

His criminal history included a 1979 charge of first-degree sexual assault, which resulted in a plea of not guilty by reason of mental illness. In 2016, he was convicted of sexual assault on a mentally disabled victim, resulting in a two-year prison sentence.

Mixon bounced in and out of supervised prisons and detention centers before being admitted to Helping Hands on 75th Street, according to Department of Corrections records.

On the morning of June 7, 2021, the Milwaukee Police Department responded to a report of a sexual assault on a property.

The caregiver told police he found Mixon leaning over the other resident in his bedroom, with both residents’ underwear pulled down. Court records show Mixon told the caregiver, “Don’t say anything,” and returned to his bedroom. Later that day, Mixon told a caregiver that he “couldn’t control his hormones.”

In an investigative interview conducted after the incident with the speech therapist, the victim stated that she did not accept sexual touching.

Mixon pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a mentally ill victim as a “repeat offender” and was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision.

The lawsuit says he was placed on the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ sex offender registry for 15 years.

There were also allegations of abuse at another Helping Hands location

Generally, adult family homes are inspected every two years by inspectors from the Department of Health Services.

In recent years, the only deficiencies were found at Helping Hands on 75th Street^vol Street stems from a complaint from September 2023. A subsequent investigation found a number of hazards, including a non-functioning smoke detector, dangerously hot water coming from faucets and no working fire extinguisher.

Regulators ordered the facility to “develop and implement corrective measures that will ensure the home remains safe and hazard-free.”

The Department of Health Services does not impose financial penalties on adult family homes who report incidents of abuse or unsafe living conditions, a spokesman said in a statement. However, DHS may require facility owners to develop a plan to achieve compliance with DHS regulations.

According to state directories of adult family homes in 2023, there were eight Helping Hands locations throughout Wisconsin. Six locations have closed over the past year.

Last September, the Sentinel newspaper wrote about frequent reports of violence and harassment at another Helping Hands location located on South Sunset Drive in Milwaukee.

Residents reported shouting, screaming and physical attacks both inside and outside the facility. Some said they witnessed residents leaving the house naked or wearing soiled adult diapers.

Kathy Hauglie, a parent of a former Sunset Drive resident, told the Journal Sentinel at the time that she suspected her son was a victim of abuse because of signs of injury on his body. Despite her suspicions, Hauglie stated that it was difficult for her to transfer her son to the new facility.

Avery L. Davis, a former janitor at the Sunset Drive facility, was accused of intentional abuse of a resident later this month. He pleaded guilty in January and was sentenced to 30 months in prison with 15 months of extended supervision.

State Rep. Bob Donovan said at the time that the facility’s owners were aware of the problems and were trying to fix them.

“I think they’re decent guys,” Donovan said at a community meeting. “They tried to do everything they could to fix some of them. I think they were just in over their heads.”

How to report abuse or violation

If you believe the guardian or the state DQA regulated care providerviolated state or federal regulated entity laws, you have the right to file a complaint. There are several ways to make a complaint or report about a supplier or its employee(s):

Submit a complaint online by completing the Complaint Handling Survey, F-00607.
To file a complaint, call toll-free 800-642-6552. Leave a voicemail and your call will be returned the next business day.
File a complaint toClient Rights Office.

Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at [email protected].