Va. Beach care home closed after owner's drug plea

VIRGINIA BEACH

State officials decided Friday to shutter a care home for people with intellectual disabilities after they discovered that the owner - facing a recent neglect charge and scrutiny over earlier complaints about the home - failed to report that he'd recently pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge.

The decision by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services came after The Virginian-Pilot inquired whether Lawrence Batiste's Dec. 5 guilty plea for felony cocaine possession would affect his license to operate Pleasante Vue Residential Care Home, a Baker Road facility serving about four people. Les Saltzberg, the department's licensing director, investigated and found that Batiste had not reported the charge as required.

Police last month charged Batiste, 55, and his wife, Sandra Batiste, 45, who helps run the home, with misdemeanor neglect, accusing them of not having enough staff to care for Pleasante Vue's residents. The charge stemmed from a complaint from a sister of a resident, who said another resident had repeatedly hit her sister at the home, leaving bruises.

The Batistes did not return three phone messages, two left at Pleasante Vue and one with Lawrence Batiste's attorney, requesting comment.

State law prohibits anyone with a recent felony drug conviction from operating a care home. Although Lawrence Batiste pleaded guilty to the charge, he qualified for a first-offender program that will dismiss the charge if he complies with certain conditions for a year, said Macie Pridgen, a spokeswoman for the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

Still, the guilty plea and Batiste's failure to report it are sufficient grounds to revoke his license, said Meghan McGuire, a spokeswoman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. As a result, officials decided Friday to immediately have the home's remaining residents removed and ask Batiste to surrender his license, she said.

The decision likely will end the home's six-year history of providing care that, as far as state officials were concerned, was without reproach prior to recent events.

Batiste retired from the Army in 2000 and five years later obtained a state license to operate Pleasante Vue, allowing him to house and care for individuals with intellectual disabilities severe enough that Medicaid funded their care.

In the years that followed, the facility performed well enough on inspections for Batiste to obtain a three-year license, Saltzberg said.

But reports of problems at the home came to light in September when a resident arrived at his day program with a gash on his head, an open bite wound on his hand and sores on his feet, according to investigation documents from the department. An investigator followed up and found insufficient staffing at the home and that employees had failed to report and obtain treatment for the man's wounds, according to documents.

As a result, officials issued Pleasante Vue a six-month provisional license, requiring Batiste to address the issues by March.

Later that month, a resident's family member filed another complaint against Pleasante Vue, stating that one of the residents had a history of assaulting the others and had struck her sister on an arm she'd fractured in a fall.

Investigators from the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services looked into it, this time with Adult Protective Services, and again found insufficient staffing and other violations, according to an investigation report from the department.

This time, police got involved, and in December charged Batiste and his wife with neglect. They're free on bond and due in court Feb. 13.

Those charges were not sufficient to shut down Pleasante Vue, especially because the Batistes are not accused of abusing their clients, Saltzberg said. A conviction most likely would mean the Batistes no longer could work in the home, but may be able to retain ownership, he said.

But not with a felony drug record.

On July 8, a police officer patrolling the parking lot of a gentleman's club on Diamond Springs Road found Lawrence Batiste sitting inside his car, "holding a folded dollar bill with a white powdery substance" up to his nose, according to a court document outlining the prosecution's evidence in the case. Upon seeing the officer, Batiste dumped the powder - which tested positive for cocaine - onto his lap, resulting in criminal charges of felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor obstruction of justice, according to court documents.

Batiste pleaded guilty on Dec. 5 to the drug charge and a lesser charge of destruction of property. The plea agreement stipulates that he must be on good behavior for a year; complete substance-abuse treatment; and perform 100 hours of community service.

If he complies, a judge will dismiss the charges later this year, Pridgen said. A subsequent conviction, including on the neglect charge, could jeopardize the dismissal, she said.

Problems such as those documented at Pleasante Vue appear to be a rarity in Virginia. Of 11,000 facilities licensed to provide care to adults with intellectual disabilities, only 10 to 12, including Pleasante Vue, received provisional licenses because of violations last year, Saltzberg said.

But officials want to make it easier for family members to learn about facilities entrusted with caring for their loved ones, Saltzberg said. Now, basic license information is available on the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services' website. But the department is testing a more comprehensive site that would provide more detailed information, such as inspection results, to better inform their decisions, he said. They hope to launch the site in the next couple of months.

The department's Office of the Inspector General also is looking at quality issues in group homes for people with intellectual disabilities and plans to release a report next month, said Inspector General Douglas Bevelacqua. The goal: Prevent and address problems such as those at Pleasante Vue sooner, he said.

"What we are hoping to do is to create a system where family members, caregivers, advocates can walk into the group home armed with half a dozen questions and know if people are being cared for properly," Bevelacqua said.

"And if they're not, have a system for reporting so that that gets flushed up to the watchdog agency sooner rather than later."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com