(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – July 12, 2021 – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that a Sumter County Grand Jury has indicted Towodi Shequoyah, 37 years old, aka Abdullah Muhammad, on two charges.  An investigation conducted by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and the S.C. Attorney General revealed that Shequoyah exposed himself to and attempted to sexually assault a nursing home resident in February 2021. Shequoyah was employed at the nursing home at the time. Under state law, the resident is considered a vulnerable adult.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (SCMFCU) indicted Shequoyah for an Attempt to Commit Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult (S.C. Code §43-35-0085 (B)) and an Attempt to Commit Criminal Sexual Conduct Third degree (S.C. Code §16-03-654). Bond was denied during a General Session Bond Hearing held on June 23, 2021. The Attempt to Commit Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. The Attempt to Commit Criminal Sexual Conduct Third Degree charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The SCMFCU will be prosecuting both cases under its patient abuse jurisdiction.  Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

The South Carolina MFCU receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $1,478,492 for Federal fiscal year 2021. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $492,826 for FY 2021, is funded by South Carolina.