NEW ORLEANS – A nursing home owner facing criminal and civil complaints for evacuating residents to a derelict warehouse to weather Hurricane Ida in 2021 is now being sued by federal authorities who say he misspent $4 million.
The latest complaint against Bob Dean Jr. was filed Thursday in US District Court in Baton Rouge, alleging he violated federal regulations.
Dean has already lost state licenses and federal funds for cramming residents from seven nursing homes into an ill-prepared facility in the city of Independence, Louisiana, about 70 miles northwest of New Orleans. Authorities said they found sick and elderly bedridden there after the storm, with patients on mattresses on the wet floor. Some cried out for help and some lay in their own garbage.
The new complaint focuses on four of the nursing homes, the corporations Dean created to operate them, and federal regulations that applied to the organizations as federal mortgage-insured businesses.
The lawsuit alleges Dean asked the nursing homes to make payments to the warehouse he owned, “alleged to serve as an evacuation center,” according to a government statement. “The rent, which totaled more than $1 million, was paid to one of his corporations. Instead of using the funds to prepare the warehouse for a hurricane, he diverted much of that money to his personal bank accounts,” the Justice Department said in a release.
Later, prosecutors said, Dean transferred more money from the nursing home facility’s accounts to his personal accounts.
The federal complaint says the government is entitled to damages equal to double the money misspent. Officers are seeking a jury trial.
Dean had not submitted a response as of Friday afternoon. The Associated Press emailed requests for comment to attorneys who have represented him in other matters.
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