Elderly-Care Home Closed for Suspected Violations

State and county health authorities shut down a board-and-care home for suspected health and safety violations here Wednesday, forcing about 40 elderly residents to be relocated to other facilities.

Residents at the Ambassador Care home at 10161 Hillhaven Ave. were not receiving proper care and the facility had been operating without a license since April, said Doug Harvey, a supervising investigator with the state Department of Social Services.

“They were unlicensed and illegal,” Harvey said. “There were gross violations.”

Harvey declined to elaborate on the specific violations but said officials decided to move in around 10 a.m. Wednesday after Ambassador failed to make changes requested by regulators.

The lack of advance notice angered some, including Tujunga resident Nicole Miller, who said her family scrambled to move her grandmother and her belongings out of the facility.

Miller said her family was called by the county in the early afternoon, informing them to come get their grandmother.

“They basically said she had to get out of there,” Miller said. “My mother and brothers came to get her stuff out.”

Harvey, however, said county officials helped make arrangements to relocate those residents who needed assistance moving to licensed homes. Among those agencies assisting were the Los Angeles County Department of Adult Protective Services, the county health and fire departments, and the community care licensing division of the state Department of Social Services, he said.

Tom Henry, a deputy to Los Angeles City Council member Joel Wachs, whose district includes Tujunga, criticized state and county officials for not giving residents and their families warning.

“While the state had cited the owners, the residents were unaware of the threat of closure, and to pack them up suddenly is heartless,” Henry said.

Harvey said officials feared a warning would tip off the owners of Ambassador, giving them time to strike a deal with another board-and-care home to take the residents illegally.

“We’ve seen in the past where networks of unlicensed providers sweep in and take residents who are unable to know the difference,” Harvey said. “Even today there were unauthorized care providers who showed up trying to take clients.”

He added that most of the families were aware of the licensing problems at Ambassador, so that the closure should not have come as a complete surprise.

Ambassador Care is owned by Rolando Baloy, according to corporate records. Baloy could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Ambassador’s license was revoked this past April but the facility continued to operate, Harvey said. At least two applications to relicense were filed--the most recent rejected by state officials Friday.

Harvey said the state intends to file charges ranging from operating without a license to elder abuse against Ambassador with the Los Angeles district attorney and the Los Angeles city attorney.

On Oct. 8, the community care licensing section of the state Department of Social Services contacted the county Department of Community and Senior Services to ask for help in assessing the Tujunga facility. County workers were sent to investigate, said Alicia Ulloa, acting human services administrator for the county Department of Community and Senior Services, who acts as the county’s liaison with the state Department of Social Services.

That assessment led to the decision to shut the facility.

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Times staff writers Jeffrey Gettleman, Caitlin Liu and David Colker contributed to this story.