N.C. officials have fined a Cabarrus County care center $12,000 after an autistic boy drowned when he wandered away.

The center violated rules that put residents' safety in "immediate and serious jeopardy," investigators found. They declined to release details of the incident, citing a federal rule that prohibits release for up to 90 days.

The $12,000 fine against RHA Howell Care Center-Clear Creek is a "Type A" penalty, the most serious the state can assess, said Jim Jones, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.

"There's no way to put a price on a life, but it's a way to penalize a facility for failing to do what it was supposed to," Jones said. "The facility needed to take immediate corrective action, as well as put a system in place to prevent this from happening again."

The state report, released Monday afternoon, also said the center could be dropped from the federal Medicaid program unless it corrects the deficiencies within two weeks.

On Jan. 27, 10-year-old Brandon Parrish Johnson left the center on the Cabarrus-Mecklenburg county line. He was found later in a nearby creek.

In a preliminary report, state medical examiners determined the cause of death was accidental drowning and said Brandon's autism was a contributing factor.

In a letter to the center, state regulators said the facility violated state laws on the rights of clients. It also said the center violated federal rules governing intermediate-care facilities for people with mental retardation.

The regulation it cited says a facility "must develop and implement written policies and procedures that prohibit mistreatment, neglect or abuse of the client."

RHA Howell officials were unavailable for comment. Center officials met with parents Thursday to discuss the death and precautions taken since then to keep residents safe.

Jackie Miller of Charlotte attended the meeting. Her severely autistic 16-year-old son stays at the Clear Creek center.

"That's all, $12,000?" she said.

During the parent meeting, Miller said, RHA Howell officials talked about improvements they were making to the campus off N.C. 24/27 (Albemarle Road).

"And you can't protect a 10-year-old little boy?" Miller said in Monday's interview.

She said her son once wandered away from the center and almost reached Albemarle Road, about a half-mile away.

The center, which has 120 beds for adults and children, is operating at capacity. A "Type A" fine for a mental health facility with 10 or more beds can range from $1,000 to $20,000.

"I can't tell you what percent (of centers) receive this fine," Jones said. "I think $12,000 speaks pretty well for itself."

The maximum fine for a Type A penalty had been $10,000, but the state legislature recently doubled that limit.

The state inspected about 3,000 mental health facilities in 2006-07, nearly twice as many as in the previous year, Jones said.

"When you do more surveys, you're going to find more problems," he said.

If the Howell Center does not correct deficiencies the state found in its Jan. 28 inspection, terminating Medicaid "would be the next step," Jones said.

Under federal rules for centers participating in Medicaid, the specifics of the state report cannot be released for 90 days, or until the state determines the center can stay in the Medicaid program.

Terminating Medicaid means the center would lose all federal Medicaid reimbursement.

"If a facility is cited for (immediate jeopardy), this goes along with the citation. If nothing else, it's to compel their immediate attention to fix it," Jones said.

The center has until Feb. 13 to respond to the recommendation that it be dropped from Medicaid. In its response, the center must say when the deficiencies will be corrected; but they must be corrected by Feb. 19.

The center has until Feb. 26 to appeal the $12,000 fine.

STAFF writer Pam Kelley contributed.