NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The proprietor of seven Louisiana nursing houses who despatched greater than 800 of his aged residents to a crowded, ill-equipped warehouse to journey out Hurricane Ida final yr, was arrested Wednesday on fraud and cruelty fees arising from the squalid circumstances.
Bob Glynn Dean Jr., 68, was already going through state and federal sanctions for crowding his residents right into a facility within the city of Independence, roughly 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans. There authoriteis mentioned they discovered ailing and aged bedridden folks on mattresses on the ground, some crying for assist, some mendacity in their very own waste. Some had arrived with out their medication, in response to one physician. A number of civil fits in opposition to Dean’s company mentioned mentioned bathrooms did not work on the warehouse and there was too little meals and water.
On Wednesday, Dean was in custody in Tangipahoa Parish, going through fees of Medicaid fraud, cruelty to the infirm and obstruction of justice. Dean’s legal professional didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark.
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Lawyer Normal Jeff Landry mentioned the prison fees stem from allegations that Dean billed Medicaid for dates his residents weren’t receiving correct care on the warehouse “and engaged in conduct meant to intimidate or impede public well being officers and regulation enforcement.”
Within the days after Ida hit, final Aug. 29, the state reported the deaths of seven individuals who had been evacuated to the warehouse within the city of Independence. 5 had been labeled as storm-related deaths.
Dean later misplaced the state licenses for his seven amenities. In Might, the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers introduced it was prohibiting Dean from receiving federal funding, together with Medicare and Medicaid.
Ida blasted ashore final August as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., knocking out energy to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the circulate of the Mississippi River because it rushed from the coast into a significant industrial hall. Ida’s landfall with 150 mph- (240 kph-) winds additionally marked the primary time in recorded historythat a state received back-to-back years of 150 mph winds or extra.
On the warehouse the place Dean’s residents had been taken, state officers mentioned circumstances had deteriorated rapidly within the storm. Turbines used to supply energy failed at occasions. Residents had been in shut quarters at a time when the state was urging social distancing as a result of coronavirus pandemic. Some went with out meals for hours.
Dean’s nursing houses had been River Palms Nursing and Rehab and Maison Orleans Healthcare Middle in New Orleans; South Lafourche Nursing and Rehab in Lafourche Parish; Park Place Healthcare Nursing Residence, West Jefferson Well being Care Middle and Maison DeVille Nursing dwelling of Harvey, in Jefferson Parish; and Maison DeVille Nursing Residence in Terrebonne Parish.
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