A state representative is accusing a local senior care living facility of swindling its residents.
- New ownership took over facility over two years ago
- Workers say they cannot cash their paychecks
- Rep. Edwin Narain says residents, employees taken advantage of
Rep. Edwin Narain (D-Tampa), says University Village in Tampa is a "modern day fraud." His statements come after months of complaints from residents and employees of the community.
Residents say the facility has gone downhill after a new company, TR & SNF Inc., took over nearly two years ago.
Workers, on the other hand, claim they sometimes can’t cash their paychecks because there isn’t enough money in the bank.
“Unfortunately, the residents have been taken advantage of, and so have the employees of this facility,” Rep. Narain said.
Carol Resnick moved into University Village two years ago after her husband died.
“I wanted to be in Florida, but go into a facility where I didn’t have to have people worry about me,” said Resnick.
Resnick, like many seniors who live here, put down a large chunk of money to “buy in” to the facility. The payments, meant to ensure end-of-life care and other benefits for the rest of their stay at University Village, sometimes reached hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Now, Resnick has decided to leave because of the new owners.
“They pay themselves, but they don’t put their money into the building,” Resnick said.
Merline Thomas, who has been a caretaker at University Village for 17 years, says some of her coworkers rush to cash their paychecks because they have bounced recently.
Rep. Narain says the ownership company failed to go through the proper channels with the state in order to purchase University Village.
“It appears this process has been circumvented by management which is resulting in a lot of problems,” said Rep. Narain.
According to state records, the senior community’s license is currently “under litigation.”
We gave the company an opportunity to respond to this story, but the calls went unreturned.