Tulare County seeking Newsom's help after 22 relocated from 'horrific' conditions at care facility

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Tulare County Board of Supervisors is taking action, asking the state to refund the county for its time, energy and efforts in getting two dozen people living in a residential care facility to safety.

Supervisor Larry Micari first heard about the living conditions, described as "horrific" in October of last year.

"What was described to me was people were covered with scabies. I think one person was diagnosed with cancer and had not had their follow-up treatments," Micari continues. "There was no hot running water there. There were two bathrooms -- one was completely inoperative. Mold with food in the refrigerator. Just a lot of things. I guess there was feces from rats and mice everywhere. It was really bad."

The Autumn Oaks facility in Porterville shut down last November after more than 50 complaints in five years, which can be found here.

Those include bedbugs, cockroach infestations and insect droppings in the freezers stored with food, as seen in images here.

"I've lived in a lot of places in the past 60 years, but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," says Jerry Garber, who lived at the facility for two months before moving out.

He describes the experience as the worst time of his life.

"I would've rather been dead because I had just lost my wife six years ago," he said. "I would've rather been dead. I wouldn't want anyone to live through that ever again."

Because the state oversees the licensing on this type of facility, Tulare County's Human Health and Services is limited on what it could do.

They found a loophole that allowed them to inspect the building.

"Based on what we saw, it was not living conditions. Tulare County HSSA, KTAAA, CSET and many others went into crisis mode to get these residents out of that facility and get them relocated," explains Carrie Monterio with Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency.

The Tulare County District Attorney's office says there is a felony case against a woman named Lisa Ong related to the issue.

Tulare County hopes to have the letter complete within a week, and sent off to the governor's office as soon as possible.

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