August 25, 2009
Media Contact: Jenn Meale
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Volusia County Woman Arrested for Operating Assisted Living Facility without License
~ Arrest is fourth made today for operating unlicensed facilities ~
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced a Volusia County woman has been taken into custody on charges that she was operating an assisted living facility without a license. Marjorie Nelson, owner and operator of Helping Hands Manor I and II in Edgewater, was arrested by law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Acting on information received from the Department of Children and Families, Medicaid fraud investigators determined that Nelson, 49, was operating one of her two facilities without a license. Nelson told investigators she had not licensed the second location because upgrading the septic system and fire suppression systems would cost too much.
In order to legally operate an assisted living facility, there are various administrative and operational requirements which must be met, including licensing procedures, staffing requirements, compliance with county health and local fire authority regulations and the safe management of medication by trained staff personnel.
Nelson is charged with operating an unlicensed assisted living facility, a third-degree felony. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the Seventh Judicial Circuit. The arrest is the fourth arrest made today by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit; earlier this morning, three other individuals were arrested in Jacksonville for operating two separate assisted living facilities without licenses.