FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Police in South Florida have released details about their evidence against a nursing home administrator and three employees who are being held accountable for a dozen deaths at the facility after Hurricane Irma.
- 12 patients died at Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills
- Patients died in days after Hurricane Irma as power, air conditioning were out
- Hollywood Police have arrested four people on manslaughter charges
Nursing home patients at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, ranging in age from 57 to 99, began dying three days after Hurricane Irma swept through in September 2017.
Hurricane Irma knocked out the air conditioning at the Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills. At least twelve patients died from heat-related issues.
Jorge Carballo, Althia Meggie, Sergo Colin and Tamika Miller are all in police custody for their roles in the deaths of those patients.
Police say additional arrests are expected in the case against a Florida nursing home where 12 patients died in sweltering heat in after Hurricane Irma knocked out the facility’s air conditioning in 2017.
Tuesday’s announcement by Hollywood Police comes one day after they charged four people, three nurses and an administrator, with aggravated manslaughter.
Police Chief Chris O’Brien said it took three weeks just to process the crime scene at the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills where they collected more than 1,000 pieces of evidence. They said they interviewed more than 500 people in the case over the past two years and seized 55 computers.
The chief said investigators met with family members of the victims Monday night “in an emotional meeting” to explain the process and let them ask questions.
“The families sitting here today should not have lost their loved once this way. They placed their faith and trust in the facility ... and that trust was betrayed. They have been living an absolute nightmare,” the chief said as several family members stood solemnly behind him.
Nursing home patients at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, ranging in age from 57 to 99, began dying three days after Hurricane Irma swept through in September 2017.
The center, which housed about 150 patients at the time, did not evacuate any of the residents as the temperature began rising, even though a fully functional hospital was across the street, investigators said. The home’s license was suspended days after the storm and it was later closed.
Former Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills administrator Jorge Carballo and nurses Sergo Colin and Althia Meggie were granted release on bail by a Broward County judge Tuesday. Carballo and Colin, both being released on $90,000 bail, face 12 counts of aggravated manslaughter. Meggie was granted $17,000 bail on two counts of aggravated manslaughter and two counts of evidence tampering.
A fourth defendant, who is also a nurse, is being held in Miami-Dade County pending her transfer to Broward County.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.