EL MONTE : Boarding Home Owners Agree to Give Up License

The state Thursday agreed to settle a case against the owners of a troubled board-and-care home for the mentally ill after its owners agreed to give up their operating license, said Department of Social Services attorney Jay Dayvault.

Owners Karl and Pearl Hoffman, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, were scheduled to go on trial before an administrative law judge next week for state code violations at Dahlia Gardens Guest Home in El Monte, including lack of supervision of two residents that allegedly contributed to their deaths.

Under the agreement, the Hoffmans will give up their license in three months. They are not eligible to apply for another license for two years, Dayvault said.

On Feb. 28, state officials closed Dahlia Gardens. Since the home opened in 1987, it has been given nearly 150 citations for code violations. The latest followed a Feb. 8 incident in which a schizophrenic man allegedly beat another patient to death. At the time, a housekeeper--the one staff person on duty for 73 residents--was washing dishes in another building.

The other death occurred in March, 1992, when a 41-year-old woman took a lethal amount of drugs and died, authorities said. The woman, who was unsupervised at the time, allegedly had found the drugs in a medicine cabinet at the home.