The prosecutor's office requested this Wednesday, June 28, 18 months suspended prison sentence against a septuagenarian, suspected of having held an undeclared Ehpad for ten years in Dordives (Loiret), before the criminal court of Montargis (Loiret).
Justice accuses the septuagenarian of having welcomed 70 elderly people between 2012 and 2022, in the premises of a former restaurant, without administrative approval, while presenting her establishment as "a flatshare for the elderly".
Many "dysfunctions"
The Public Prosecutor's Office requested the conviction of the main accused of concealed work by concealment of activity, illegal practice of the profession of nurse and habitual home care for consideration of elderly persons without approval. According to the deputy prosecutor Anne Sauvestre, the main accused "sold an all-inclusive service, with all the benefits of an Ehpad", for 600 euros per month, pointing to "an incalculable number of dysfunctions" and poor care.
After several inspections and requests for compliance, the ARS Centre-Val de Loire and the Loiret departmental council had ordered the cessation of activity of the structure in February 2019, a decision confirmed by the Administrative Court of Orleans in June 2021, then the Court of Appeal of Versailles in May 2023. The reception activity had effectively ceased in October 2022, following a search and sealing of the building.
A suggestion from the administration
During the hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer of the septuagenarian pointed out the shortcomings of the departmental administration. According to him, and letters in support, the Loiret services suggested to the accused, who had an approval of family foster since 2006, to open a structure in the form of a flatshare to receive more elderly people.
Following the recommendations, the septuagenarian had also written to the services of the general council to inform him of his change of status in 2012. "When we write to the administration to tell them what we are going to do, I do not call it concealed work," pleaded his counsel, Olivier Rougelin. The lawyer also highlighted that, to receive the personalized autonomy allowance, the Loiret services had moved about fifty times in the pavilion. Without any consequences.
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Me Olivier Rougelin also pointed out that, of the 70 people welcomed for ten years, only six families appeared at the hearing. Only one, dissatisfied, asked to join the proceedings as a civil party. The Dordives facility was "not a dehumanized place," he insisted, adding that the procedure was "not abuse, abandonment or deprivation." The decision was reserved until 27 July.