A 47-year-old certified caregiver at a Phoenix group home for people with disabilities faces a Class 2 felony after prosecutors say he stuffed a washcloth into the mouth of a nonverbal, non-ambulatory man with cerebral palsy and tied socks around the man's head to hold it in place, impeding his ability to breathe.
Mark Sampson was arrested June 24, 2026, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office filed one count of child or vulnerable adult abuse under circumstances likely to produce death or serious physical injury two days later, on June 26. The alleged victim, a man whose arms are so severely contracted he cannot move them, who has little to no fine motor skills, and who cannot speak or call for help, was discovered by two fellow caregivers shortly after Sampson left the room, ABC15 Arizona reported.
A judge set Sampson's bond at $25,000 secured. Court records list him as an accountant employed by the City of Phoenix. A city spokesperson confirmed he has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation and any criminal proceedings.
The probable cause statement lays out a grim overnight timeline. Sampson entered the victim's room at approximately midnight on March 18, 2026, to provide care. He remained until roughly 5:45 a.m. on March 19, when he left to attend to another patient.
Shortly after Sampson departed, two other caregivers walked into the room. They found the victim in bed with blankets pulled up to his neck, facing a wall. When they pulled the blankets back, they discovered the gag, a washcloth stuffed in his mouth, secured by two socks tied together around his head and neck.
One of the caregivers photographed the victim.
The victim was transported to a hospital. Medical examination revealed abrasions on the inside of his lips where the washcloth had pressed them against his teeth, "abrasions around the outside of much of his mouth, and ligature marks on the sides of his neck." The gag had impeded his breathing. He was not found to have sustained serious physical injuries beyond those marks.
The victim's own care plan required his caregiver to remain within hearing distance at all times. But a man who cannot make a sound has no way to summon help, a point Assistant Attorney General Ryan Dill drove home at Sampson's initial court appearance.
"The most vulnerable members of society, namely an individual who is afflicted with cerebral palsy, he is non-ambulatory and nonverbal. His arms are contracted in such a way that he can't even move and he cannot make a noise."
Dill described what investigators allege the photographs show.
"There was a washcloth stuffed in the victim's mouth, and two socks were tied together around the victim's head to the point where it left red marks on the face, the victim's face, and pictures show the victim absolutely terrified."
Sampson agreed to give a statement to investigators. He denied placing the washcloth in the victim's mouth. He denied knowing about the incident at all. He denied seeing any injury to the victim's face when he showered him.
He admitted entering the victim's room to get a blanket, but denied staying.
Then he offered another explanation. Sampson initially claimed there was a conspiracy among his co-workers to have him fired. When pressed, he conceded he had no evidence to support that claim.
At his initial court appearance, Sampson put it more simply: "It's just some sort of setup."
Court records show Sampson had no prior felony or misdemeanor convictions at the time of his arrest. That clean record does not change the nature of what prosecutors allege he did to a man who could not fight back, could not cry out, and could not remove the obstruction from his own mouth.
ABC15 reviewed the group home's history with the Arizona Department of Health Services and found no record of any prior disciplinary enforcement or investigations from state officials. The group home's name and address have not been publicly identified in connection with the case.
That clean regulatory history raises its own questions. A facility with no blemishes on its record still housed a resident who was allegedly gagged and left alone in the dark for hours. Whether the Arizona Department of Health Services has opened any investigation into the home following the March 19 incident remains unclear.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office told ABC15 it cannot comment on the case at this stage.
Significant gaps remain. No motive has been stated by prosecutors or investigators. Which law enforcement agency conducted the investigation that led to Sampson's arrest, more than three months after the alleged incident, has not been disclosed. Whether Sampson held his caregiver position and his City of Phoenix accounting job concurrently, and how he came to work both roles, is also unexplained.
The victim's identity has not been released. Nor has any information emerged about what internal action, if any, the group home took between the March 19 discovery and Sampson's June 24 arrest. That three-month gap between the alleged crime and the arrest invites scrutiny of its own.
Dill, the assistant attorney general, left little ambiguity about how the state views the case.
"This is an incredibly egregious violation of human dignity and the law."
Group homes exist because society has made a promise: the most vulnerable among us, people who cannot walk, cannot speak, cannot lift their own arms, will be cared for by people worthy of the trust. Certification, care plans, and state licensing are supposed to guarantee that promise means something.
When a caregiver is accused of gagging a man who cannot scream, that promise collapses. The victim in this case could not remove a washcloth from his own mouth. He could not roll over. He could not bang on a wall. He lay in the dark, blankets pulled to his neck, facing a wall, until someone else walked in.
The charge is a Class 2 felony, abuse under circumstances likely to produce death or serious physical injury. Sampson denies it. A court will decide. But the facts in the probable cause statement describe a man who was utterly defenseless, and the system that was supposed to defend him did not catch what allegedly happened until another caregiver pulled back a blanket.
Accountability for the powerful matters. But accountability for those entrusted with the powerless matters just as much, maybe more, because the victims can't speak for themselves.
