Louisiana Attorney General arrests nursing home owner after deadly Hurricane Ida evacuation
The owner of 7 Louisiana nursing houses that were being evacuated during Hurricane Ida to a warehouse where at the very least seven people today died is experiencing several costs of fraud and cruelty to the infirmed.
Bob Dean Jr. was charged Wednesday in Tangipahoa Parish with 8 felony counts of cruelty to individuals with infirmities, five felony counts of Medicaid fraud and two felony counts of obstruction of justice.
Investigators uncovered Dean “refused to move his residents out of the warehouse next Hurricane Ida, billed Medicaid for dates his citizens were not acquiring appropriate treatment and engaged in conduct meant to intimidate or obstruct general public overall health officials and regulation enforcement,” Attorney Basic Jeff Landry’s business stated in a launch.
The investigation was led by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Device and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigations.
More authorized motion may perhaps be filed as the investigation is ongoing.
Dean, who lives in Ga with his spouse, flew into Louisiana and self-surrendered Wednesday, his legal professional John McLindon said. The judge set the 68-yr-old’s bond at $350,000 and he will be launched from jail Wednesday afternoon, McLindon said. Dean has authorization to return to Georgia.
“We will vigorously defend these costs,” McLindon advised the Everyday Advertiser.
If convicted of cruelty to people with infirmities, Dean could face up to a $10,000 fine and 10 years in jail for each and every demand, according to state regulation. If convicted of Medicaid fraud, he could deal with up to a $20,000 high-quality and 5 years in prison for each charge.
The Louisiana Department of Well being revoked the facilities’ licenses after nursing home citizens were evacuated to a Tangipahoa Parish warehouse throughout Hurricane Ida.
The Affiliated Push reported that 15 people died after the evacuation, even though some may not be associated to the storm or warehouse, and LDH referred to as the problems unsafe and inhumane.
Qualifications: What to know about nursing house evacuation to Independence, lawsuit
The amenities laid off a lot more than 800 folks after that. But in the notice the services called the revocation of the licenses “short term,” and explained the conclusion was currently being appealed.
A class-motion lawsuit also has been filed from Dean, alleging that the nursing residence inhabitants “termed out to the representatives of defendants for food items, h2o, medication, and to be relieved of their dirty diapers, dresses and mattress linens (for those who had been supplied linens) but their calls went unanswered.”
The 7 facilities that evacuated individuals to the Independence, Louisiana, warehouse had been positioned in Orleans, Lafourche, Terrebonne and Jefferson parishes.
Just before Hurricane Ida produced landfall, the facilities evacuated much more than 800 residents to the warehouse. It was ill-equipped for the range of individuals it housed and there were not plenty of employees to care for citizens, according to a lawsuit.
About the lawsuit: As conditions at Louisiana warehouse worsened during Ida, employees designed bathrooms from buckets
Mattresses have been laid on the ground, just inches from each individual other, a problem that was exacerbated when rainwater leaked into just one of the warehouse’s buildings.
Officials with the office of health and fitness created a number of visits to the internet site but Dean threatened them. They later returned with legislation enforcement officers and removed people.
Speak to Ashley White at [email protected] or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.
This report at first appeared on Lafayette Day by day Advertiser: Louisiana nursing home operator arrested soon after Hurricane Ida evacuation