The Augusta Fire Department held an inspection of the Mercy Ministries Thrift Shop on Dec. 7 and promptly shut the building down.
A notice of condemnation is posted on the building located at 2034 Broad St., and the building has been left vacant with overflowing trash cans out front and rotting vegetables left on the front porch.
According to fire department records, inspectors found there to be no electricity inside the building; therefore, the building had no heat and emergency exit signs could not be illuminated. Inspectors found a generator operating outside of the building, providing limited power.
The inspector noted in the report that Georgia Power had cut service off to the location due to nonpayment and stated that “this structure is deemed unsafe and cannot be occupied.”
Evidence inside the building, according to the report, indicated that people were still staying overnight in the thrift shop when Mercy Ministries had been told repeatedly by the fire department that the building was not safe to operate as a homeless shelter.
Mercy Ministries Director Fran Oliver was not able to be contacted for comment, but has in the past admitted to allowing homeless people to stay overnight because other shelters, such as The Salvation Army, do not allow people under the influence of drugs or alcohol to stay overnight out of safety and liability concerns.
The is not the first time where Mercy Ministries has run afoul of the fire department and code enforcement. In May, the building was shut down after inspectors found emergency exits blocked, non-functioning emergency lights, open electrical panels, exposed wiring, missing ceiling tiles and inoperable smoke detectors, according to documents obtained by an open records request.
Oliver and her nonprofit have also come under the scrutiny of law enforcement. According to former Augusta district attorney and now Columbia County Assistant DA Natalie Paine, the Crimes Against the Vulnerable and Elderly Task Force (CAVE), while it was up and running, launched an investigation after accusations were made that Oliver required boarders to turn over their Social Security checks directly to her.
“They were our primary target. There were a lot of complaints that had substance, the investigation was active when I left the Augusta DA’s office,” Paine said.
Paine also confirmed that she faced political pressure not to prosecute Oliver, and she ignored the attempted strong-arming.
After the 2020 election, which ushered in the administration of Jared Williams, the CAVE unit folded because all of the staff on the task force were not going to be staying in the District Attorney’s Office.
In this latest closure, Oliver was given 30 days to remedy all of the issues and inspectors are due to inspect the building again on Jan. 7.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
