NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana businessman who sent more than 800 elderly residents from his seven nursing homes to ride out Hurricane Ida in an overcrowded, poorly equipped warehouse pleaded no contest to 15 felony counts Monday and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Bob Dean Jr. must also pay more than $358,000 in restitution to the state health department and more than $1 million in monetary penalties, but state Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed frustration in a news release that Dean was not sentenced to prison time.
“We have specifically asked that he be sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison, not just probation. I respect our justice system and believe that the judge has the discretion to determine the appropriate sentence, but I remain of the view that Dean should serve a prison sentence,” she said.
Dean, 70, owned seven nursing homes in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana. As Ida approached, Dean moved hundreds of residents into a building in the city of Independence, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans.
Authorities said conditions at the warehouse deteriorated rapidly after the powerful storm on Aug. 29, 2021, hit. They found sick and elderly people lying on mattresses on the wet floor, some screaming for help, others lying in their own feces. Civil lawsuits against Dean’s company said the sweltering warehouse had leaky ceilings and overflowing toilets, and there was insufficient food and water.
Days after the storm hit, the state reported the deaths of seven evacuees, five of whom were storm-related.
By the time Dean was arrested on state charges in June 2022, he had lost state licenses and federal funding for his nursing homes.
According to Murrill, Dean pleaded not guilty to eight counts of cruelty to the disabled, two counts of obstruction of justice and five counts of Medicaid fraud. Judge Brian Abels sentenced Dean to a total of 20 years in prison, but deferred the sentence in favor of three years of probation. The plea was entered in Tangipahoa, north of New Orleans.
Defendants who plead not guilty do not admit their guilt but choose not to defend themselves against the charges. They are then liable to be convicted and punished as if they had pleaded guilty.
