Operator of Illegal Care Home Sentenced
A 45-year-old Granada Hills woman was sentenced to 750 hours of community service Wednesday after pleading no contest to operating an unlicensed board-and-care facility in Los Angeles, City Atty. James K. Hahn’s office announced.
Margaret McClay Garnett, who sometimes uses the name Margaret Gutierrez, was also placed on three years summary probation. Under the terms of the probation, authorities will be allowed to search, without a warrant, any of her businesses suspected of being an unlicensed care facility.
Garnett was sentenced by Los Angeles Municipal Judge Keith Schwartz after pleading no contest Tuesday to three counts of operating an unlicensed residential facility for the elderly, said Deputy City Atty. Keith De La Rosa.
The charges arose from an investigation conducted earlier this year by the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services after it was notified that an allegedly unlicensed care facility was in operation at 1057 S. Arlington Ave.
Investigators searched the property Feb. 22 and found 19 residents, several of whom appeared mentally ill. Seven residents were subsequently transferred to licensed residential care facilities.
Criminal complaints were filed against Garnett in April and May after investigators learned that the facility was still in operation with several of the same residents who were present during the February inspection, De La Rosa said.
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