Texas woman running unlicensed care homes for adults is charged after THIRTEEN ... trends now
A Texas caregiver has been charged with abuse and endangering patients after 13 disabled people allegedly died in her care in less than two years.
Regla Becquer, 49, the owner of four care homes under her LLC 'Love and Caring for People', is accused of leaving her patients to live in squalor while raiding their bank accounts.
She is also accused of poisoning patients, which Chris Devendorf, the brother of a man who died in her care in January, claims caused his brother to rapidly deteriorate as soon as he joined her home.
'There was something different in his voice,' Devendorf said about his brother, Kelly Pankratz, when he last spoke to him. 'He was slurring his speech. Sounded like he had something in his mouth.'
Regla Becquer, 49, the owner of four care homes under her LLC 'Love and Caring for People', is accused of leaving her patients to live in squalor
Chris Devendorf, right, the brother of Kelly Pankratz, died in her care in January, claims caused his brother to rapidly deteriorate as soon as he joined her home
Although her care homes are allegedly unlicensed, patients were sent to Becquer by hospitals when they don't meet the criteria for care at a licensed facility, according to KLIF.
A search warrant obtained by WFAA alleged that 13 patients have died in her homes since September 2022, as patients were allegedly left in rotten conditions.
In the case of Kelly Pankratz, his brother said he developed a brain condition that caused confusion, and after being hospitalized for sepsis, he broke his ankle on the way home.
Pankratz was subsequently placed in one of Becquer's care homes, which Devendorf said led his brother's condition to go rapidly downhill.
He claimed that Becquer wouldn't take him for scheduled doctor's appointments, and they struggled to get into contact with Pankratz for several months.
'It was impossible,' family friend Barton Gross told WFAA. 'There was just no way to get ahold of him. No mailing address, where I could even send a card.'
Becquer is accused of strategically moving patients between homes to avoid detection while cutting off their contact with their families.
Devendorf said the last time he spoke with his brother in January, when he suffered the slurred speech patterns that concerned
