Santa Ana : Case Continued Again for Care Home Operator

A man who has defied three years of court orders banning his operation of unlicensed homes for the elderly again failed to show up in court Friday, and his case again was continued.

State officials said the Rev. Kenneth Lowe has ignored court orders in effect since 1983 and contend that he should be punished.

He was jailed for 16 days last year for contempt of court then released on probation after he went on a hunger strike. Lowe was ordered to complete 780 hours of community service as a condition of his release from the balance of his original 230-day jail term.

Since last May, he has repeatedly missed court dates set by Orange County Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan to report on his activities.

Friday, Lowe’s wife, Norma, brought Ryan a letter from a physician who stated that Lowe’s health is so fragile because of heart ailments that he would “risk death” by coming to court. She insisted that his church, not Lowe, is operating a home that takes in elderly residents at 24602 Jutewood Place in El Toro.

Repeated inspections have shown that residents at the El Toro home, as well as three others formerly operated by Lowe, failed to receive proper medical care. The attorney general’s office has claimed in documents filed with the court that the neglect has made some residents “suffer unnecessarily,” and “may have contributed to or hastened the deaths” of others. The home was cited last year for fire code violations, according to Michael V. Hammang, an assistant state attorney general involved the litigation.