A state-licensed care facility for people with disabilities has been cited for routinely using residents’ money to pay for office furniture and facility supplies.
According to state inspection reports, the Walton Group Home in Burlington failed to obtain written consent to use the money of “an unknown number” of current and former residents when purchasing items to furnish the residential care facility over the past nine years.
State officials say that as of December 2025, the disabled residents of the home had not been reimbursed for their losses, and the home’s owners say no criminal referral has been made in the matter. The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing has fined the home $500.
According to the recent findings of DIAL’s health-facility inspectors, a worker at the 12-bed care facility reported to DIAL in July 2025 that a table inside an office at the home, used only by the facility’s staff, had been purchased with a particular resident’s money. The worker then showed a DIAL inspector an enclosed tub and shower in a bathroom that was attached to the office of the former administrator.
“Behind a closed shower curtain was a 4- to 5-foot high pile of appliances and kitchen items, including a vacuum cleaner, two sets of pans, two sets of dishes, four of silverware, plastic drinking cups, 40 piece storage containers, an electric griddle, a stock pot with lid, four baking sheets and 16 plastic bowls,” inspectors reported.
The worker reported that she believed all of the items had been purchased with residents’ funds.
Inspectors then reviewed records showing that in April 2024, an employee had submitted paperwork asking one resident’s guardian or payee to add $1,750 to that resident’s debit so the money could be spent on “home decor.” A receipt from a local furniture store showed that two dressers were then purchased for $950, as well as a dining table for $470.
The dining table was the one situated in the facility’s office, inspectors reported.
The group home had also used that same resident’s money to purchase bottles of Culligan water and kitchen utensils. Inspectors reported the home had nothing in writing from the resident’s guardian indicating he had authorized the purchases made on behalf of the resident.
A subsequent review of expense receipts associated with a different resident revealed that individual’s money was used to purchase bottled water, mini bowls, tumblers, baking pans, a vacuum cleaner and a griddle. In December 2025, inspectors interviewed that resident’s guardian, who stated she had not authorized any of the purchases.
The resident in question “had limited funds and could not afford to buy these items for the group home,” the state inspectors reported. The guardian “felt betrayed by the actions of the former administrators to the point she considered moving her ward from the facility,” inspectors added.
According to Theresa Magnussen, the regional executive director for Walton Group Home’s owner and operator, Imagine The Possibilities Inc., the matter has not been referred to authorities for any sort of criminal investigation.
She also declined to comment on the state’s allegations and said the state’s published report of its findings speaks for itself. “It’s all good,” she said. “It’s all good, it’s all good, it’s all good. Yep. It was very minor, a very minor infraction.”
Residents’ money misused for nine years
In their written report, the inspectors alleged they interviewed “Staff A” at the home – no job title or job description for the individual is provided – and that employee stated “former administrator No. 2” had used residents’ personal funds to buy items for the facility such as the furniture, supplies and decorations in the great room and the living rooms. The residents were always asked if they wanted to make these purchases,” the employee told inspectors.
Upon her retirement, former administrator No. 2 then trained former administrator No. 1 on how to handle residents’ funds, which resulted in the process of misappropriating resident funds continuing, inspectors reported.
“Most of the staff believed this was how things were done,” Staff A told the inspectors, adding that he had only recently learned it was improper to use residents’ money to buy things for the facility.
Some of the residents were required to keep their bank accounts below a certain limit to remain eligible for benefits, inspectors noted. The staff was advised to use residents’ money to pay for any personal items the residents themselves needed and wanted, and then the former administrators would use what was left over for facility supplies and furnishings, the inspectors concluded.
According to the inspectors, “Staff B” at the home – again, no position or job title is disclosed in the published report – said the practice had been going on “for the past nine years.”
“If a resident had extra money, staff would use it to buy what was needed for the group home,” Staff B reported.
Three of the home’s residents were asked by inspectors whether they agreed with their money being used to purchase items for the facility. The residents reportedly stated that about nine years ago, whoever had extra money in their accounts would buy Culligan water for all of the residents to share. The water purchases stopped a year and a half ago, the residents told inspectors.
“Staff C” told inspectors the money of “every resident” of the group home had been used to purchase items, such as dishes and Tupperware, for the facility at various times.
According to the inspectors, Walton Group Home’s own policies on the use of resident funds noted that “all staff were responsible” to ensure residents’ personal funds were not used to “purchase items intended for the use of others or the benefit of others.”
During a December 2025 interview with the home’s then-current administrator, that individual allegedly told inspectors she had only recently learned about the former administrators’ use of resident funds to purchase items for the facility. “She did not understand how they did not know this was wrong,” the inspectors reported.
$500 fine, no residents reimbursed
Although Walton Group Home has implemented new practices to prevent any additional misuse of residents’ money, inspectors reported in December 2025 that the home “had not taken any steps to reimburse residents for the funds which were used to purchase items without their guardian’s written authorization.”
The administrator explained that she “did not know where they would start to determine the extent of the misappropriation,” inspectors reported.
According to the inspectors’ findings, the Walton Group Home staff reported that when residents of the home received their stimulus checks from the federal government in 2021 or 2022, the former administrator “had all the residents pitch in their funds to buy the three dining room tables and chairs currently in the dining room.”
In addition, inspectors reported, at the same time the home was using residents’ personal funds for facility expenses, it was also failing to provide residents with the washcloths, hand towels, bath towels, soap and bed linens that should have been supplied by the home as part of their residency agreement.
As a result of the inspectors’ findings, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing fined Walton Group Home $500.
Magnussen declined to identify the home’s current administrator, but said the inspection department’s website – which identifies the administrator as Dina Garrison – is “the best bet” for that information. A worker at the home who declined to identify himself said Wednesday that Garrison was not at the facility and “there’s nothing we can tell you.”
Residents called ‘hogs,’ access to money threatened
In addition to the issue with residents’ money, Walton Group Home was cited for other violations that did not result in any fines or sanctions, including a failure to treat residents with dignity.
According to the inspectors, the home’s former administrator gathered all of the residents together for a May 2025 meeting and complained to them about their conduct during the previous day’s outing to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
During the outing, each resident was given $40 of their money to spend, but some chose to eat two items rather than the one item that was planned. At the post-outing meeting, the former administrator allegedly told the residents, “I’m really upset, you acted like a bunch of hogs last weekend. I won’t have you act like a bunch of hogs in public.” She then told the residents, “The money you get from Social Security is not your money and I will tell you how to use it.”
One worker reportedly told inspectors that during the post-outing meeting with residents, the former administrator “kept referring to the residents as hogs and cattle and it was not right to compare people to barnyard animals.” The worker also recalled the former administrator “lecturing the residents on how the Social Security money was not theirs, it was hers to give out to them.”
After the meeting, the former administrator reportedly told the staff that if any future activities involved food, the residents were going to act like hogs and so they couldn’t go.
Inspectors later spoke to one of the residents who was on the outing. The man reported the former administrator told him one taco per person should be enough for everyone to eat, but he opted for a cheeseburger and later had a tostada. At the next day’s meeting, the former administrator “gave him a look” when talking about residents overeating, and then said the residents couldn’t have their money until they started acting like adults, adding, “If you think you know your rights better than me, well, I know better.”
The man reportedly told inspectors that other residents at the meeting “put their heads down like they were in trouble,” and said he had felt “angry and disgusted” with himself, believing he had ruined things for his fellow residents.
The home’s new administrator reportedly told inspectors that Walton Group Home was the official “payee” for several of the residents and was responsible for doling out their personal funds. However, inspectors found there were no quarterly financial statements for eight of the home’s residents from January 2024 through June 2025.
One resident of the home reportedly told inspectors she had been under instructions from the previous administrator to get rid of at least 10 personal belongings each month to “de-clutter” her room. The inspector reported the resident – whose room was clean and “quite tidy” – was sad about being forced to dispose of her personal belongings.
An employee of the home reported the former administrator had falsely informed her it was a “state rule” that the resident had to get rid of 10 items per month. At one point, the worker said, the former administrator felt one particular resident had too many belongings and “went through her room and threw things away.”
Group home is operated by tax-exempt charity
Walton Group Home is a state-regulated residential care facility authorized to provide housing, food and personal assistance for individuals who cannot fully care for themselves due to some form of physical or mental infirmity.
Unlike nursing homes, which are subject to federal regulations, residential care facilities do not require the services of a registered nurse except in emergencies.
Walton Group Home’s owner, Imagine The Possibilities Inc., is a tax-exempt charity that in 2024 reported $67 million in revenue and $58.5 million in expenses. It provides a number of services for Iowans and operates residential care facilities for individuals with mental illness or intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Tax records show that in the year ending June 20, 2024, the organization paid then-CEO Todd Seifert $414,149. That same year, it paid then-President Wendy Malone $401,838, and Chief Operating Officer Tiffany Marlette $297,031.
Also in 2024, the organization reported spending $426,769 on vans at Brad Deery Motors. The owner of the dealership, Brad Deery, is a board member of Imagine The Possibilities, according to the organization’s tax records.
