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A Columbia man who used to work at a state-run hospital was recently arrested for physically assaulting a patient who was called a vulnerable adult, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Vernon Leon Stewart, 62, was charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult, SLED said Thursday in a news release.
Stewart was arrested Monday and booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to the release. Information about Stewart’s bond was not available, but he’s not currently listed on the jail’s inmate roster.
Stewart was arrested for his role in a Dec. 3, 2025, incident that happened at a Wellpath Recovery Solutions facility in Columbia, according to an arrest warrant.
The institution is partnered with the South Carolina Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities – Office of Mental Health. It is located at 7901 Farrow Road, near Exit 73 on Interstate 20, which is the junction with S.C. 277.
At the hospital, treatment of psychiatric disorders is offered for “individuals involved with the criminal court system for a wide range of mental illnesses and conditions,” according to Wellpath’s website.
Since Wellpath took control of the Columbia Regional Care Center in 2009, it has provided “nursing care, pharmacy, security, chaplains, facility management, and all other support services for individuals found incompetent to stand trial and not guilty by reason of insanity,” according to the website.
On Dec. 3, Stewart grabbed the victim on the neck and took them to the floor, the arrest warrant said. Stewart then held the victim down on the floor by putting his knee on the victim’s lower back/buttocks, according to the arrest warrant.
Information about how long he held down the victim was not available, but when Stewart got up to leave he stepped on the victim’s back to walk over them, the arrest warrant said.
There was no word about what prompted the physical assault, but Stewart’s violent actions were recorded on surveillance videos and corroboroated during interviews, according to the arrest warrant.
SLED said Stewart was a former custody officer with WellPath, but there was no word if he was fired or if he resigned.
Stewart will be prosecuted by the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Wellpath, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the nation’s largest medical providers for prisons and jails. It operates in 34 states and Australia, employing 15,000 caregivers for 300,000 patients at “inpatient and residential treatment facilities, civil commitment centers, and local, state and federal correctional facilities,” the company’s website says. The Nashville Business Journal said in 2018 that the company would generate $1.5 billion a year.
The company began in 2003 under the name Correct Care Solutions. In 2018, Correct Care Solutions merged with another company to form Wellpath, the Nashville Business Journal reported.
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Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999.
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