Editor’s note, Oct. 26, 2023: Read this story for an update: “COVID-related criminal charges dismissed against Silverado.”
A California-based senior living operator and three of its executives have been charged with felony elder abuse tied to 14 COVID-19-related deaths that occurred at one of the company’s memory care communities at the beginning of the pandemic.
Silverado; Silverado CEO Loren Shook; Jason Russo, former administrator of Silverado Beverly Place, a Los Angeles memory care community; and Kimberly Butrum, Silverado vice president of clinical services, have been charged by the Los Angele County District Attorney’s office with 13 felony counts of elder endangerment and five felony counts of violation causing death.
The company denies all charges.
The complaint alleges that in March 2020, Silverado broke its own protocols by admitting a retired Manhattan surgeon from a New York City psychiatric unit into Silverado Beverly Place. The complaint also alleges that the community did not test the man for COVID-19 and did not quarantine him once he began showing signs of illness. Additionally, Silverado is accused of failing to prohibit entry of individuals who had traveled within 14 days to or from confirmed COVID-19 hot spots; New York was considered the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time the man moved in.
As a result, according to the complaint, the community experienced a COVID-19 outbreak; 45 employees and 60 residents were infected with the virus, and 14 people died.
Investigators with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health began conducting an almost three-year investigation into Silverado Beverly Place following the death of a 32-year-old nurse, Brittany Ringo.
“The investigation revealed that the Silverado management team was aware of the risks associated with admitting a new resident from a high-risk area and failed to follow the appropriate procedures to protect their employees and the vulnerable people in their care,” District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement. “These careless decisions created conditions that needlessly exposed Silverado staff and its residents to serious injury and, tragically, death.”
Prosecutors maintain that the community admitted the man from New York due to financial considerations.
Silverado had not responded to a request for comment from McKnight’s Senior Living as of the production deadline, but Jeff Frum, Silverado senior vice president and spokesman, told ABC News that the company denies all charges.
“Silverado’s top priority is and always has been providing world-class care, respect and dignity to people living with dementia and a caring environment for our associates,” Frum said. “We deny all charges filed against us. They are baseless and egregiously contradict the facts.”
Frum said the company looks forward to presenting its case and that Silverado will “always grieve the loss of the residents to the pandemic and the frontline hero who cared for them.”
“We have taken the pandemic extremely seriously since the start,” Frum said. “We recognized COVID-19’s unprecedented threat to society, particularly for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Silverado was a leader in developing protocols for people living with dementia, and many of these same protocols became standards for the entire memory care industry.”
Relatives of some of the deceased residents and Ringo, who helped move the infected man into his room, filed lawsuits in December 2020 against the community, alleging that the owners placed residents and staff members at risk by admitting the man from New York.
