Haven House, the respite home for the developmentally disabled, was burglarized sometime between Valentine’s Day and Monday.

Barbara Kilpatrick, executive director of Rockdale Cares, which operates the Haven House and group homes and educational facilities for the developmentally disabled, said staff members had left the building Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. On Monday morning, they returned to find the glass on the front door shattered and a 50-inch flat screen TV missing. Also missing were several jumbo sized muffins from the refrigerator.

The TV had just been delivered Friday to replace one that had been damaged by a client, said Kilpatrick. The front door, custom designed with the silhouette of an overarching tree, had been donated to the facility after its original owner didn’t want it for a house at Lake Oconee. Repairing the glass for such a specially made door would be difficult, said Kilpatrick.

Staff members discovered the power to the security alarm had been tampered with days before the incident, allowing the backup battery to run out.

The whole incident was deeply hurtful, said Kilpatrick.

"It’s just so frustrating," she said. "To think somebody would take from these people…" Her voice caught as she fought back tears.

The facility provides a temporary place for the developmentally disabled so that their caregivers can have a day or more of respite.

Haven House is located in the Light House Village on Sigman Road — a campus that will eventually also house Phoenix Pass, transitional housing for families, and the Dream House for Medically Fragile Children Inc. which would provide a comprehensive, hospital-to-home program for medically fragile foster children.For more information, go to www.rockdalecares.org or call 770-922-7272.