O.C. Care Facility Quitting

The company that owns a Santa Ana board-and-care home where a mentally disabled woman was allegedly raped by a staff member announced Tuesday that it plans to sell or close all six of its residential-care facilities.

The announcement comes after state authorities closed the Santa Ana home in April, and less than a week after the woman’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the operator, Westview Services Inc. of Anaheim.

“The incident just made the board think that this is the time to leave the business,” said William Furlow, a spokesman for Westview, which has five homes in Orange County and one in Los Angeles.

Authorities began investigating the Santa Ana home in April after a 30-year-old woman, who officials said has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, gave birth to a stillborn baby.

Representatives of the California Department of Social Services were scheduled to meet with the company to discuss that incident and several others.

“We wanted them to take a serious look at the overall picture, and one of of the big questions was: Are they in the right business?” said Blanca Barna, spokeswoman for the state agency.

“We definitely expected to come up with a plan of action that may or may not have included revoking all of their other licenses.”

The state is revoking the license of the home where the sexual assault allegedly occurred--Camden Westview Care Home on West Camden Place.

Last week, police charged an employee of that home, Robert Rogelio Rios, 45, with rape. Under California law, the woman could not legally consent to sex because of her diminished mental capacity.

It was not the first incident at board-and-care homes run by Westview, Barna said.

“There had been what we considered health and safety issues, including some incident reports that were substantiated involving inappropriate care of clients,” Barna said.

An investigation revealed previous incidents at two other Westview facilities in which one client had been slapped and another chained to her wheelchair, Barna said.

In each case, she said, a citation was issued “and we put them on notice that they needed to improve the care.”

In Westview’s announcement on Tuesday, a company official said the financial viability of the board-and-care facilities also factored into the decision to let go of the homes.

According to the company’s press release, the facilities have long been a financial drain, losing more than $38,000 in the first three months of this year.

“We have stayed with them despite the financial hardship they’ve caused because there are people who need residential care,” Westview CEO Mary James Radecki said in the written release.

“Although we love taking care of the clients there, the homes have never been at the center of our mission. We are really good at operating the all-day programs, and that’s where we intend to focus from now on.”

The company will retain control of its six remaining residential care facilities--housing a total of about 25 clients--through the end of June, Furlow said. After that, he said, they will either be closed or handed over to state-approved licensees.

“You can’t assume they are all going to close,” he said.

Westview will work with the Regional Center of Orange County--which refers clients to residential care homes--to develop alternatives for clients who are displaced, Furlow said.