Broward woman arrested for illegally operating assisted-living facility
Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of a Broward County woman for operating an assisted living facility
without a license and abusing a disabled adult in her care. Duanne Bewely was arrested today by law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The arrest is Bewely’s second for operating an assisted living facility without a license; the previous arrest was in
March.
An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Patient Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (PANE) team determined Bewely, 36, was operating
Faith Manor Vermont Assisted Living Facility in Ft. Lauderdale even though she had previously been arrested for operating the facility without a
license. During a visit to the facility, investigators determined Bewely as administering medication to a disabled resident.
To legally and properly operate an assisted living facility, there are various administrative and operational requirements which must be met,
including the safe management of medication by trained staff personnel. Because Bewely’s facility is not a licensed assisted living facility, her
actions significantly jeopardized the resident’s safety, resulting in a criminal charge of abuse.
Bewely has been charged with one count of operating and/or maintaining an assisted living facility without a license and one count of abuse of a
disabled person, both third-degree felonies. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The case will be prosecuted by
the State Attorney’s Office for the 17th Judicial Circuit. The previous charge is still pending against her.
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