According to Virginia regulations an assisted living facility gets a provisional license for a maximum of six months if its permanent license expires and it can't get up to code.
When the six months is over, the rules are clear.
The facility "must be in substantial compliance with licensing standards or be denied a license to continue operation," according to state regulations.
At the end of 2020, Cary Adult Home lost its permanent license and received a provisional license. As WHRO reported, Cary had received 40 state violations, generated more than 400 law enforcement calls, and two residents died while staying at the facility.
Last week, the six-month period for Cary's provisional license expired. But the Virginia Department of Social Services, the government body that oversees assisted living facilities, hasn't said what will happen.
"The provisional license renewal has not been processed due to an active investigation and an appeal of violations," wrote Cletisha Lovelace, spokesperson for the VDSS, in an email.
When pressed by WHRO, Lovelace said that until recently VDSS was implementing a policy of " regulatory leniency" because of COVID-19. The deadlines for licenses and other requirements were relaxed because of the pandemic.
This leniency ended on June 30, 2021, precisely when Cary's six-month provisional license deadline ran out, and it's unclear what deadline exists now.
Meanwhile, a VDSS inspector recently posted a new violation of state regulations at Cary, stemming from "multiple unsolicited inappropriate behaviors" by a resident at the facility.
According to a VDSS report, the resident was paying another resident "for inappropriate favors." It didn't say what those favors were but indicated that the resident who was paid might not have been able to consent.
"Resident #2.. does not understand what was being asked or why..." the report read. "Resident #2 didn't like it and doesn't want to do it anymore."
The facility reported these events to VDSS in mid-January. A state inspector did not begin to investigate the matter until Feb. 21, after almost six weeks had elapsed. The inspector reviewed the case remotely, using the protocol put in place during the pandemic. At the end of June, the investigation was over, but VDSS did not post the plan to correct the matter online.
As reported earlier, on or before the summer of 2020, Virginia state police opened an investigation into allegations that a resident committed sexual battery in the facility. A police spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing.
Because of this investigation, WHRO asked VDSS whether the state police were notified of the facts around this new violation and what the plan was to correct it.
VDSS did not respond before publication.
Cary Adult Home did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
