Unlicensed Laguna Hills Board-and-Care Home Raided

Orange County sheriff’s investigators raided an unlicensed board-and-care home Wednesday in Laguna Hills and took into protective custody two mentally and physically disabled men who allegedly suffered from neglect.

The men, ages 19 and 20, were placed in the custody of the California State Department of Developmental Services. They will remain there until they are examined by a doctor, then they will be placed in a licensed home, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Pete Gannon, who led the raid. Gannon said the men, who were being examined Wednesday night, appeared to be suffering from malnutrition.

The raid began at noon Wednesday, when five sheriff’s investigators, assisted by four state and county social service agency representatives, executed a search warrant at the two-story home of Alma Smith, 48, on a cul-de-sac in the 26000 block of Buena Vista Drive. After an inspection, the investigators seized business records and a valid license for Smith to operate a board-and-care facility in Los Angeles, Gannon said. Smith did not have a license to operate such a facility in Orange County, although Gannon said she has done so over the past seven years at different places in south Orange County.

Officials with the state Department of Social Services told sheriff’s investigators that an administrative law judge in 1982 refused Smith’s request for a license to operate a board-and-care facility in Orange County. State officials were not available for comment late Wednesday on why the request was turned down.

Smith was released without charges after the raid. Gannon said investigators still want to determine whether Smith is operating a board-and care facility in Los Angeles, as her license states, and whether the two men in her care in Laguna Hills had been neglected.

If the examinations show that they have been, Gannon said he plans to ask the district attorney’s office early next week to press charges of abuse of dependent adults against Smith. That crime can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a felony, he said.

Smith’s business records will remain in the custody of Orange County Municipal Court during the investigation.

Sheriff’s officials were notified Friday by Orange County Adult Protective Services that Smith was operating an unlicensed board-and-care facility at the Laguna Hills address and that the two dependent adults there had suffered lack of proper nutrition and medication, Gannon said. That agency acted after receiving a complaint from a citizen, he said.

After an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, a search warrant was obtained Wednesday from Municipal Judge James Brooks.

Efforts to reach Smith were unsuccessful late Wednesday.

However, two of her neighbors said they had suspected that there was an unlicensed operation at her house.

“There was never anyone official looking who came around to check up on her,” said Bob Martin, who lives next door.

Both Martin and another neighbor said Smith last year had been caring for a school-age retarded boy, whom she put on the bus to classes every morning. Martin said Smith apparently cared for several other people because her house had a steady stream of visitors.

“You would find all kind of people driving up into their driveway and then driving away,” Martin said.