2 Are Accused of Keeping Unlicensed Homes for Elderly

Two women have been arrested on suspicion of running unlicensed homes for the elderly in five San Fernando Valley houses, where some tenants were put in beds in a garage and perhaps in a pickup truck, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Friday.

Two charges were brought against Marie Antoinette Thomas, 38, of Pacoima and a total of 13 counts were brought in a separate case against Marina Di Pietro, 49, said City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Di Pietro moved repeatedly as state and county health and welfare inspectors attempted to close her operation, Hahn said. Since the beginning of the year, she operated unlicensed homes, with from two to five tenants, on Plummer Street in Sepulveda, Simonds Street in Granada Hills, Winnetka Avenue in Canoga Park and Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood, he said.

“Each time inspectors from the county Health Department and the state Department of Social Services found one of Di Pietro’s operations and issued a cease-and-desist order, she would just pack up and move to another house,” Hahn said.

“She closed the North Hollywood location after an inspection Feb. 2 and moved her operation to a Granada Hills house. Investigators traced her there, but, when they arrived last Friday, she had already moved again,” said Hahn. “Again they traced her--this time to a house in Newhall--and went there with an arrest warrant on Tuesday, after we filed a criminal complaint. But the house was empty when they arrived and neighbors said she had left the afternoon before.”

Hahn said Di Pietro “then was tracked to her daughter’s home in Rosemond, in Kern County, where she was arrested” by Kern County sheriff’s deputies and turned over to Los Angeles authorities, he said.

Di Pietro was known to have five tenants when she began moving, all of them “very old,” said Deputy City Atty. Sue Frauenz, supervisor of the city attorney’s consumer-protection unit. When she was arrested in Rosemond, Di Pietro had with her only one elderly couple and a pickup truck with two beds in it, Frauenz said.

Di Pietro apparently found alternate shelters for the other three people, Frauenz said.

Tenants Living in Garage

In Thomas’ case, investigators found five women living in a garage when they went to a home Thomas operated as Middleton Board and Care on Terra Bella Street in Pacoima, Frauenz said. Six men were found in the house, which is across the street from Thomas’ own home, she said.

Most of the tenants were elderly, but some were younger people with psychiatric problems, Frauenz said.

It was difficult for investigators to interview the older tenants. Some were too senile to give their names, but one of Thomas’ tenants said he paid $1,000 a month to live there, Frauenz said.

Inspectors had visited the home five times since last August and had issued two cease-and-desist orders before seeking arrest warrants, the city attorney’s office said.

Endangering Charges

Di Pietro was charged with four counts of operating an unlicensed board-and-care home and one count of operating an unlicensed nursing home, because some of her tenants allegedly were in need of skilled nursing care. She faces six counts of endangering the health of a dependent adult--on grounds that prescription drugs were left in locations where tenants could take them without supervision--and one count each of failure to maintain medical records of residents and failure to keep medicines locked under control of a supervisor.

Each count carries a possible six-month jail term and $1,000 fine.

Di Pietro was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. Thomas was freed on $3,000 bail.

Hahn said the arrests are part of a citywide crackdown by his office on unlicensed homes.