EL MONTE : Department Asked to Probe Delay in Closing Facility
A state assemblyman has asked the Department of Social Services to justify why it allowed an El Monte board-and-care home for the mentally ill to operate so long when it had racked up nearly 150 code violations since 1987.
On Feb. 28, the department ordered Dahlia Gardens Guest Home for the mentally ill to close. The department had been investigating the home since Feb. 8, when one diagnosed schizophrenic resident allegedly beat another to death. At the time, a housekeeper--the lone staff member on duty for 73 residents--was washing dishes in another building, a violation of state code. In a March 3 letter to department Director Eloise Anderson, Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Irwindale) asked the department for a “full-scale investigation” into its own practices.
Anderson was unavailable for comment Thursday, but the department’s deputy director, Martha Lopez, said she had called Gallegos’ office and offered to set up a meeting on the issue.
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