A man has been arrested and is accused of operating as an unlicensed assisted living facility in a house in southwest Miami-Dade where as many as 30 people may have been residing, officials said.
Miami-Dade Police's Medical Crimes Unit, working with multiple federal and local agencies, executed a search warrant Wednesday at the house off Southwest 122nd Avenue and 207th Street.
Around 15 people were inside but a resident told investigators the capacity was around 30, Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said.
Police arrested 65-year-old Otto Egea, in connection to the illegal ALF. He faces a charge of operating an assisted living facility without a license.
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The residents are elderly and in some cases physically or mentally disabled, police said. Several ambulances were seen taking the residents from the home to local hospitals so they could be evaluated.
Officials said the inside of the home looks like a hotel, with multiple rooms subdivided, along with bunkbeds, locker rooms and futons.
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A detective described the conditions as filthy, and the beds and sheets don't look clean.
Zabaleta said the facility was being run without a license and the employees weren't medically trained and didn't have proper certifications.
"It's not certified by the state, it doesn't have a license to be an adult living facility, it's not meeting the proper protocols and procedures and guidelines that are brought forth by the State of Florida and of course Miami-Dade County ordinances," Zabaleta said.
Zabaleta said authorities had received information about the house and that fire rescue crews have previously responded to the home multiple times for illnesses and other issues.
At least 15 patients have been taken from the home for involuntary psychiatric evaluations since January, Zabaleta said.
"You can understand how this globally can become a formula for disaster," Zabaleta said. "You can see that it's just a simple residence but what's going on inside can be disastrous."
One woman who is a resident said the conditions weren't that bad.
"It’s not bad, it’s nice if you can go in there and see it yourself," Kimberly Baker said. "I’m hoping I could stay here. I’ve been here so long, you know."
But a neighbor said the home has been a problem for years.
"They done came to my house, I stay right down there, asking for food, all kinds of stuff, walking the streets all times of the night, they be sleeping on the bus stop benches and stuff like that," Gwen Flowers said. "They’re not doing nothing but beating people out their money, they take their checks, the people don’t see nothing."
The Department of Children and Families and the Department of Health were assisting authorities at the home, Zabaleta said.
