A man who owned four Louisiana nursing homes left hundreds of residents in squalor when Hurricane Ida hit because he wrongly spent his facilities’ assets and income instead of putting money toward preparing an evacuation site, according to federal prosecutors.
More than 840 of Bob Dean Jr.’s nursing home residents had no option but to evacuate into an industrial warehouse that could only fit 700 people during the hurricane — and the “situation quickly deteriorated” in August 2021, a lawsuit filed by the U.S. government says.
Dean was in a safe location while his residents were stuck in the overcrowded warehouse without proper medical care, sufficient food or access to bathrooms, according to the lawsuit.
“Some were left naked or in a T-shirt and diaper on their cots. Others called out for help, but those calls went unanswered,” the lawsuit says.
Now, Dean and several companies he owned will pay $8.2 million as part of a settlement that resolves the lawsuit and accusations he violated the National Housing Act of 1934 by wrongly using his nursing homes’ assets and income, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana announced in an Oct. 9 news release.
Dean’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Oct. 10.
Since Dean’s nursing homes were insured by the Federal Housing Administration, he signed agreements with the FHA to make sure his residents were healthy and safe, including by preparing a hurricane evacuation site — as his facilities were located in evacuation zones, according to the lawsuit. Two homes were located in Harvey, one in Houma and another in New Orleans.
However, Dean “funneled money that should have been used to prepare an evacuation site for nursing home residents to his personal bank accounts,” prosecutors said.
He previously had three options for his residents to evacuate to if a hurricane struck: another nursing home, a medical facility and his warehouse, according to the lawsuit.
He got rid of two options by selling the nursing home and medical facility — making his warehouse the only evacuation option for his residents, the lawsuit says.
According to the government, Dean made the nursing homes he owned pay “rent” to one of his companies.
“But Dean did not use this ‘rent’ to convert the warehouse into an adequate evacuation center and instead used much of the rent to line his own pocket,” the lawsuit says.
‘People are dying’
Dean evacuated his nursing homes on Aug. 26, 2021, as Louisiana was in a state of emergency when Ida was first a tropical storm, according to the lawsuit.
The residents were sent to his warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish, where they stayed as the storm strengthened into a hurricane and moved through the area between Aug. 29 and Aug. 30, the lawsuit says.
When Louisiana Department of Health inspectors entered the warehouse on Aug. 30, it smelled of urine and feces and they found piles of dirty linens, mud and puddles and “growing mounds of garbage,” according to the lawsuit.
They also noticed the floor was crowded with cots and inflatable mattresses that prevented staff from having enough space to access the residents, according to the lawsuit.
The inspectors also learned food was prepared next to portable toilets, which were “so far” from some of the residents who had to “use buckets as bathrooms,” according to the lawsuit.
After Dean sent a text to one of his employees that day to ask about the situation in the warehouse, the employee told him that staff were unable to care for the residents, the lawsuit says.
“People are dying. We need to send them somewhere they can be cared for medically,” his employee said in response, according to the lawsuit.
Instead of trying to help, Dean told inspectors to “get off his property” and pushed his staff to keep residents at the warehouse, the lawsuit says.
The inspectors started rescuing residents the next day and transported them to other nursing homes, according to the lawsuit.
“Dean was more concerned about losing nursing home residents to other nursing homes than about the safety and care his nursing homes could provide at that time,” the lawsuit says.
Seven of his residents died , The New York Times reported.
Ultimately, the Louisiana Department of Health revoked Dean’s license to operate nursing homes, according to prosecutors.
After the hurricane was over, Dean spent his nursing homes’ income and assets on personal items, such as antiques, firearms and cars, prosecutors said.
In July, Dean pleaded no contest to 15 criminal charges and was sentenced to three years probation by a state court judge, according to The New York Times. He was ordered to pay more than $355,000 restitution to the Louisiana Department of Health and over $1 million to the Louisiana Department of Justice.
“By the time Hurricane Ida bore down on the vulnerable nursing home residents at properties operated by Mr. Dean, he illegally skimmed funding from those facilities and failed to maintain sanitation and adequately equip the warehouse he designated as the evacuation site,” Housing and Urban Development Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis said in the news release.
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