Case Against Napa Nursing Home Delayed to Allow Defense to Examine Evidence

By Ramsay Crooks

Published on August 01, 2005

In probing charges of elder abuse against the owner of the Pleasant Care Napa nursing home, authorities were able to produce 7,000 pages of material documenting investigations and correspondence with the California Department of Health. Nearly 40 taped interviews and "thousands" of documents seized by federal authorities were also added to the case.

Napa County Superior Court Commissioner Rodney Stone permitted the appeal of Pleasant Care's attorneys for an extension and has yet to set a date for a new hearing.

The Pleasant Care Corporation runs 27 nursing homes throughout California. In March, State Attorney General Bill Lockyer brought 13 misdemeanor criminal charges against the company. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and several thousand dollars in fines. Officials with Pleasant Care pleaded not guilty on all counts.

The rest home Pleasant Care operated in Napa was closed down in 2004 after authorities deemed that residents consistently received care that fell below state standards.

In one of their most recent investigations, authorities uncovered evidence that an official at the Pleasant Care Corporation coerced employees to abstain from reporting state law abuses they witnessed while on the job.

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