Lesley Miles, M.Ed., Director
Brooke Mayfield, Ph.D., Deputy Director
Candice Dunn, Assistant Director
Investigations Unit Main Office: (573) 751-8420
The Investigations Unit is located within the Office of the Deputy Director. It is made up of a Director, who oversees three regions with each region containing a unit of investigators supervised by a regional supervisor. The Investigations Unit conducts all abuse, neglect, or misuse of funds/property investigations for the Department, which includes both state operated facilities and those occurring in the community where services are provided by licensed, certified or funded providers. The regions are identified as follows:
West: Destiny Plunkett and Troy Smith, Regional Supervisors
Central: Trudy Parkhurst and Jennifer Taylor, Regional Supervisors
East: Kristen Payne and Victoria Sterling, Regional Supervisors
Complaints or event reports are primarily received in regional offices or by the Department's Office of Constituent Services. These are analyzed by key DMH administrators in the Division of Developmental Disabilities and the Division of Behavioral Health who may request initiation of an investigation. The focus of the investigations are to identify system breakdowns which led to the event occurring and to identify any individual responsibility for committing abuse or neglect.
It is the policy of DMH to disqualify from employment any person who has committed abuse, neglect, or misuse funds/property against individuals who are receiving services from the DMH as mandated by section 630.170, RSMo, 9 CSR 10-5.200, and Department Operating Regulations 2.205 and 2.210. The Department's Office of Human Resources handles Registry inquiries and background screenings. Copies of Investigative Reports can be requested by submitting an Investigative Report Request Form to report.request@dmh.mo.gov.