UPDATE: Diabetic man checked out of Atlanta healthcare facility is safe, family says
ATLANTA - Anthony Morgan, who was missing after being checked out of a local nursing and rehabilitation facility, is safe, according to his family. Morgan's niece told FOX 5 Atlanta that he called them this morning and he is okay. No other information was provided by the family.
ORIGINAL STORY
DeKalb County police are searching for a missing diabetic amputee. Officers say the 54-year-old man was picked up from a local nursing and rehabilitation facility by a friend one day, but he never returned.
Anthony Morgan, Sr. is a resident at PruittHealth - Virginia Park. On Dec. 2, the front desk staff says he was picked up by a man named John Bridges at 8:30 a.m. to attend a college football tailgate together. That was the last time they claim they saw him.
When Morgan, whose curfew at the facility ends at midnight, was never checked back in, the front desk filed a missing persons report with the DeKalb County Police Department.
Police say Morgan's cellphone was tried multiple times, but he never picked up. Staffers say there wasn't a number listed for Bridges.
Anthony Morgan, Sr. (Credit: Chandra Morgan)
Morgan is 6-feet-2-inches tall and about 280 pounds. He has brown eyes, salt and pepper-colored hair and a prosthetic right leg. According to the police report, he was wearing all-gray clothing when he was checked out.
Morgan's niece reached out to FOX 5 Atlanta to provide more information.
Anthony Morgan's family comfort each other as they continue their search for him.
"When [Bridges] came to pick [Morgan] up, he signed him out as ‘his uncle.’ As you can see our family is here we do not know Mr. Bridges," Chandra Morgan said.
The family says Morgan was wearing a navy blue sweatsuit and a black pair of New Balance sneakers. They also say he had his walker with him.
"For us to know that he needs insulin to make it throughout the day, or what not, it's hard," Chandra said. "We don't know. He could be in a diabetic coma."
The family said leaving without a trace is simply unlike their uncle.
"If my uncle is fitting to leave, or go anywhere, he's gonna take his charger," Chandra said. "I'm the baker of the family. I baked him a banana nut bread, and he worried me to death about that. I ain't gonna say he would have taken the whole thing, but he would have sliced it. It was not even sliced."
Morgan's family tells FOX 5 Bridges is also an amputee and is missing his left hand. They say he was the one wearing gray and may have driven a white or light-colored Hyundai, possibly a Santa Fe or Tuscan, to an Alabama-Georgia tailgate. These details have not been confirmed by the police.
"Just help us find him bring him home safe," she pleaded.
Morgan has been without his insulin medication for two weeks as of the publication of this article. Anyone with information in his disappearance is asked to give DeKalb County Police detectives a call immediately at 770-724-7734. Chandra says she can also be reached at 770-334-5245.