Nursing home owner Bob Dean changes plea, no jail time for deadly Ida evacuation

Former nursing home owner Bob Dean is changing a "not guilty" plea to "no contest" in a deal to avoid jail time over the botched evacuation of residents during Hurricane Ida.

Dean's plea on eight counts of cruelty to the infirmed, two counts of obstruction of justice and five counts of Medicaid fraud, will result in probation for three years. WWL-TV reports the judge also deferred all prison time for Dean.

Dean will also have to pay $2 million in penalties and court costs.

Around 800 residents from seven nursing homes Dean owned in the New Orleans area were evacuated to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish ahead of Hurricane Ida's landfall in August 2021. Four patients died.

The hurricane knocked out power to the shelter, and then its backup generators failed.

State regulators ended up revoking the licenses of the facilities Dean owned.