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Arrest warrants were issued against four employees of the Hollywood Hills nursing home in Florida, reports CBS Miami. The workers were accused of having played a role in the deaths of a dozen locals after Hurricane Irma knocked out air conditioning.
Employees, including the nursing home administrator, Jorge Carballo, and the chief nurse during the storm, Sergo Colin, are expected to surrender Monday morning. Carballo and Colin could face twelve counts of manslaughter, according to their lawyers.
Two other employees, the two nurses, are expected to face less serious charges.
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"We believe that, according to the evidence, the staff of the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center would devote himself to his role as guardian and would have done everything in the catastrophic circumstances after the hurricane," said the lawyer. David Frankel's defense. CBS Miami.
The imminent arrest of retirement home workers has been reported for the first time by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The expected arrests on Monday would be the culmination of a criminal investigation on the retirement home this has continued since the deaths were first reported almost two years ago.
Hurricane Irma was shot down on South Florida on Sunday, September 10, 2017 and the nursing home lost power around 3 pm. The 152-bed facility includes two transformers feeding the nursing home. One transformer managed the life protection and security systems, while the second supported the air conditioning system. The storm only cut the air conditioning system.
On September 10, 2017, at 3:49 pm, the directors contacted Florida Power and Light to urge them to restore power. According to the nursing home officials, the FPL said they would send teams the next morning. (It was later discovered that the retirement home was not on FPL's priority list, which would have ensured a faster response.)
On the evening of September 11, after repeated calls to the FPL, nursing home officials dialed the cell phone number provided by then-governor Rick Scott during a series of emergency meetings before the storm. He went directly to voicemail. Three more calls on Scott's mobile phone were placed on September 12th.
The governor's office stated that the calls had been returned by a person from the Department of State Health and that the nursing home had been informed that, if they had a person in distress, they should call 911 for help.
The retirement home also spoke to the Tallahassee Emergency Operations Center, which informed the retirement home that its FPL repair order would be "increased".
On Wednesday, September 13, 2017, between 3 am and 6 am, nursing patients suffered from a myriad of health problems. State officials say that temperatures in the retirement home were extremely high and that some of the dead have body temperatures above 109 degrees.
The retirement home had emergency air conditioners, but the air conditioning vents on the first floor of the retirement home were accidentally placed above the ceiling slabs, causing hot air on the second floor, where most of the deaths occurred. .
Four residents died in the retirement home early in the morning of Wednesday, September 13 – three days after the passage of Hurricane Irma. Four other residents died shortly after the evacuation of the retirement home. And the rest died in the days and weeks that followed. Broward's medical examiner ruled that the deaths were homicides.
After the storm, the state revoked the license of the retirement home. Following a lengthy hearing last year, an administrative law judge concurred with the state's decision to revoke the license. The retirement home appeals this decision and defends itself against many civil suits.
The arrests in Hollywood are reminiscent of a similar case in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, 35 residents of the St. Rita Rest Home in St Bernard Parrish drowned when the storm waters devastated the nursing home.
The owners of the retirement home, Sal and Mabel Mangano, have been charged with 35 counts of homicide. Two years later they were acquitted.
Jim Cobb represented the Manganos in their criminal trial. Cobb is now working on behalf of Hollywood Hills and is expected to represent the home administrator in the upcoming Florida business.
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