SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The operators of two senior independent living facilities in southeastern San Diego are facing a series of charges stemming from alleged health and safety violations, including vermin infestations, fire hazards and improper plumbing, the City Attorney's office announced today.
The alleged violations at 8525 Parkbrook Lane in Skyline and 395 Brandywood St. in North Bay Terraces led City Attorney Mara W. Elliott's office to file nearly two dozen misdemeanor charges against the owners of both properties, according to Elliott's office.
The Skyline facility owners, Kelly Deshell Carlen and Evelyn Louise Peters, are accused of having barred windows without a quick release necessary for escape in the event of a fire, while the North Bay Terraces facility's owners, Arturo Cuison Espiritu and Norma Revilla Espiritu, are accused of having ``improper wiring'' at their facility.
Vermin, plumbing and drainage issues, illegally converted bedrooms and fire hazards in the form of blocked and inaccessible exits, accumulation of trash and debris and a lack of properly installed and maintained smoke detectors were found at both facilities, according to the 22-count complaints.
The two facilities are among about two dozen such businesses currently under investigation by the City Attorney's Office for various substandard housing violations. Elliott's office said city investigators have discovered facilities with ``soiled and bed bug-infested mattresses, bedrooms littered with adult dirty diapers, mounds of trash rotting in yards, open buckets of human waste as makeshift toilets, and other unsanitary illegal living conditions'' during ongoing investigations.
``Independent living facilities are an important source of housing for elderly and vulnerable adults, and we expect them to protect their clients,'' Elliott said. ``Too often, ILF operators betray the trust of their residents by exposing them to dangerous conditions or taking advantage of them in unconscionable ways.''
AThe Skyline and North Bay Terraces facility operators are slated to be arraigned on April 25.