‘The abject failure of The Villages and its owners to uphold their duty under the law caused residents to suffer inhumane treatment, neglect, and harm.’ – Letitia James

Press Release, Attorney General Letitia James

File photo by Tom Rivers: The owners of The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center in Albion are accused by the state’s attorney general of inhumane conditions for some residents at the 120-bed facility on Route 31.

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today filed a lawsuit against Comprehensive at Orleans LLC doing business as The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home in Albion, for years of financial fraud that resulted in significant resident neglect and harm.

Following an extensive investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General, the lawsuit — filed against the owners, operators, and related companies — demonstrates how the owners took advantage of the state’s Medicaid program to increase their personal profits, rather than use those funds for the intended purposes of staffing and patient care.

“Every individual deserves to live out their golden years in comfort and with dignity,” said Attorney General James. “Yet the abject failure of The Villages and its owners to uphold their duty under the law caused residents to suffer inhumane treatment, neglect, and harm. Instead of investing in staffing and resources, the owners allegedly disregarded laws designed to protect residents. I will continue to monitor nursing homes and residential care facilities statewide to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable communities. I encourage anyone who has witnessed alarming conditions, resident neglect, or abuse at a nursing home to contact my office.”

Under New York law, owners of nursing homes have a “special obligation” to provide a high level of care and quality of life for residents, and to ensure the facility is sufficiently staffed so as to provide that care. The Villages’ owners failed in their duty to residents by engaging in a scheme to divert funds away from the facility to increase their own personal profit, drastically cutting staffing at The Villages to do so. With this lawsuit, OAG seeks to compel the owners to return all funds fraudulently received, to appoint a receiver and financial monitor to stop the self-dealing and a healthcare monitor to improve care, and to require The Villages to stop admitting new patients until further notice.

The owners wove a complicated web of fraud, using their ownership stakes in multiple companies to turn The Villages into a profit machine. The named respondents in the complaint are The Villages of Orleans LLC; Telegraph Realty LLC, which owns the real property where The Villages is; CHMS Group LLC, which provides administrative services to The Villages; and ML Kids Holdings LLC, which received over $1.5 million in cash transfers from Telegraph.

Also named are individual owners, including the sole official owner of The Villages, his three sons-in law, his daughter-in-law; three undisclosed owners of The Villages; and the owners of Telegraph Realty LLC. Together, these individuals are referred to as the “owners.”

Financial Scheme

In January 2014, the owners formed Telegraph for the sole purpose of buying the real property on which The Villages sits, which they did a year later in January 2015. The Villages has since paid “rent” to Telegraph. CHMS was formed in January 2015, and The Villages has since paid CHMS for administrative services, including accounting, insurance billing, and payroll.

From 2015 through 2021, The Villages received $86.4 million in funding, including millions in taxpayer dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, intended to provide quality healthcare to vulnerable residents.

Instead, the owners cut staffing to increase their personal profits. By making payments to Telegraph and CHMS, and by making other transfers to themselves directly and indirectly, the owners were able to divert $18.6 million — more than 20% of The Villages’ operating budget. When the Villages was owned by Orleans County, the facility’s nursing home rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was three out of five stars. In April 2015, just four months after the owners purchased The Villages, CMS decreased the rating to one star, the lowest possible rating.

Devastating Consequences

The OAG asserts in the suit filed today that The Villages’ reprehensible history of insufficient staffing and low quality of care is directly traceable to the owners’ financial scheme. Residents were subject to repeated abuse and neglect as the most basic functions of care were abandoned.

Residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours; suffered malnourishment and dehydration; developed sepsis, gangrene, and other infections due to gaping bed sores and inadequate wound care; endured medical toxicity and unexplained doping; and sustained falls and other physical injuries. Some of these abuses, including other unmonitored or undocumented circumstances, resulted in hospitalization and even death.

The lawsuit’s allegations include:

A woman was admitted to The Villages in January 2021 with a Stage II bed sore which was not treated for more than two weeks. Six months later, in June 2021, she suffered from two Stage III bed sores and an external wound care consultant ordered a new treatment, which The Villages did not implement until a week later. By July, both wounds had advanced to the point of being “unstageable.” A friend of the woman told OAG she received more than 1,000 texts asking for help with basic necessities like using the restroom or getting food and water. One text reported she had been “lying in a dirty diaper for hours,” and another lamented, “I just need a glass of water.” The Villages gave the resident psychotropic medications for severe anxiety, though there was no such diagnosis in her medical records. She was found unresponsive on July 13 and sent to the hospital, where she died.

A woman admitted to The Villages in January 2020 for rehabilitation of a broken leg soon began refusing her food and medication and spoke of wanting to die. An external psychological consult determined she was at high-risk for self-harm, and ordered staff check on her every 30 minutes. The Villages failed to monitor the woman, and she was found dead in early February 2020, less than a month after she was admitted. Her death was not reported to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) as required by law.

A man was admitted to The Villages in November 2020 to rehabilitate after a leg amputation, so he could gain enough strength to use his prosthetic and live independently. During his three months at The Villages, he had only a handful of physical therapy sessions, during which he was often left to sit without exercise or assistance. Due to his amputation, he required help with cleaning and caring for himself, but staff frequently failed to change his diaper in a timely manner, leaving him to often spend hours sitting in his own urine. He now resides in a different facility and is making great progress.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Residents’ low quality of life and unacceptable level of care further worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as The Villages’ already stretched thin staff was forced to work even longer hours. Notably, management at The Villages tried to keep positive COVID-19 cases secret, and either delayed or entirely neglected to enforce proper protocols for quarantining infected residents. The owners forced staff to report to work even when they were sick, provided little to no personal protective equipment, failed to implement infection or isolation protocols, and did not report positive COVID-19 cases, resulting in unnecessary and preventable deaths.

A Licensed Practical Nurse at The Villages disclosed that the facility had its first COVID-19 case on March 30, 2020. Though the individual’s chart noted he’d had a fever for three days before he tested positive, nothing was done to prevent further spread of the virus.

The Villages was so short staffed that employees were caring for residents who were both positive and negative for COVID-19 without following any quarantine protocols. As the pandemic progressed, COVID-19 positive employees, forced to report to work despite being sick, mixed with COVID-19 negative residents, and all residents intermingled regardless of infection status. Employees were told that if their temperature check indicated they had a fever, they were to go outside for an hour and come back to take their temperature again.

Rather than hire enough medical staff qualified to deliver the level of care that nursing homes are required to provide, the owners instead expected Certified Nursing Assistants to perform work they were not licensed to handle. Staff and other witnesses reported times when The Villages was dangerously understaffed, such as an overnight shift where just four employees were on hand to care for all residents in the 120-bed facility. Despite this, the owners prioritized increasing resident admissions at The Villages in order to drive up revenue — even when the facility was providing substantially fewer hours of nursing care per resident than the state’s safety average, adding to the dangerous environment.

Remedies

The OAG found that the owners engaged in repeated and persistent fraud and illegality in operating The Villages, including a systemic, intentional pattern of understaffing. These actions stripped residents of their dignity and caused physical and emotional harm, while enabling the owners to reap enormous profits. In her lawsuit filed today, Attorney General James seeks to:

• Remove David Gast, Sam Halper, and Ephram Lahasky from their ownership and managerial roles at The Villages;
• Prohibit The Villages from admitting any new residents unless and until staffing levels meet appropriate standards;
• Require The Villages to engage and pay for a receiver and a financial monitor to oversee the facility’s financial operations;
• Require The Villages to engage and pay for a healthcare monitor to oversee the facility’s healthcare operations and ensure residents’ outcomes improve;
• Direct each respondent to fully disgorge any and all funds wrongfully received as part of the scheme; and
• Order all respondents with the exception of The Villages to reimburse New York state and the United States for the cost of the investigation.

Respondents

The named respondents in the complaint are Bernard Fuchs, supposed sole official owner of The Villages, his son and daughter-in-law Gerald and Tova Fuchs, and his sons-in-law Joel Edelstein and Israel Freund; David Gast, undisclosed owner of The Villages; Sam Halper, undisclosed owner of The Villages; Ephram Lahasky, undisclosed owner of The Villages; Benjamin Landa and his son-in-law Joshua Farkovits; and Teresa Lichtschein and her daughter-in-law Debbie Korngut. Together, these individuals are referred to as the “owners.”

Also named are Villages of Orleans LLC, which is controlled by Gast; Telegraph Realty LLC, which owns the real property where The Villages is; CHMS Group LLC, which provides administrative services to The Villages; and ML Kids Holdings LLC, which received over $1.5 million in cash transfers from Telegraph and is controlled by Ephram Lahasky.

Though all official paperwork associated with The Villages represents the facility is owned entirely by Bernard Fuchs, OAG’s investigation revealed he had a very limited role. In reality, David Gast, Ephram Lahasky, and Sam Halper owned, managed, and controlled The Villages.

Attorney General James has been investigating nursing homes throughout New York state based on concerns of patient neglect and other conduct that may have jeopardized the health and safety of residents and employees, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, Attorney General James released a report revealing that many nursing homes were ill-equipped and ill-prepared to deal with this crisis because of poor staffing levels and a lack of compliance with infection control protocols. Today’s lawsuit is a direct result of those investigations, some of which are still ongoing.

Attorney General James encourages anyone with information or concerns about alarming nursing home conditions, resident abuse, or neglect to file confidential complaints online or call the MFCU hotline at (833) 249-8499.

The investigation was conducted by a multi-disciplinary team from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, including Assistant Attorneys General Maura O’Donnell, Soo-Young Chang, Kathryn Heim Harris, Jared W. Goldman, and Thomas Schlief; Medical Analyst Jennifer Cronkhite, RN; Detective Supervisor James Zablonski and Detective Jaimie Krzyskoski, supervised by Deputy Chief William Falk; Principal Auditor-Investigator Milan Shah and Regional Chief Auditors Mary Henry and Dejan Budimir; and Research Analyst Brandon Andrews; the investigative teams were supervised by Assistant Attorneys General Alee N. Scott and Thomas O’Hanlon; MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney. MFCU is a part of the Division for Criminal Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General José Maldonado and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

Attorney General James thanks the New York State Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary T. Bassett; the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (Special Agent Kirin Hage); and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department for their assistance in this investigation.

Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s total funding for federal fiscal year (FY) 2023 is $65,717,936. Of that total, 75 percent, or $49,288,452, is awarded under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $16,429,484 for FY 2023, is funded by New York state. Through MFCU’s recoveries in law enforcement actions, it regularly returns more to the state than it receives in state funding.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Albion fourth-graders in the Student Leadership Council are in the village office this morning, decorating the Christmas tree.

Students in third- fourth and fifth grade made ornaments for the tree in their art classes. About 360 of those ornaments were placed in the big tree in the foyer of the village office, and on another smaller tree in the board room.

Heberle Farms in Hamlin donated the tree, a Douglas Fir.

Ma’hari Goddard, a fourth-grader, picks out ornaments for the tree.

Marty Zwifka, an Albion DPW employee, gets the ornaments up high on the tree.

Photo from Albion Central School: The students and their teachers pose with village officials after the tree was decorated. The students then went on a tour of the village office, including the police station.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A portrait of Evelyn Lyman was displayed prominently in Hoag Library in Albion on Monday, a day after the death of Lyman at age 97. The painting was donated to the library by Lyman’s son, Nathan. Linda Bucklin of Lyndonville is the artist who created the portrait.

Lyman served as the director of the former Swan Library for 25 years, leading the local public library from 1973 to 1998.

“She saw her mission as providing for the community,” said Betty Sue Miller, the current Hoag executive director. “She wanted to bring out the best in the community.”

Lyman pushed the make the former Swan Library more accessible and appealing for the community. Swan Library was in a former mansion and was cramped for space. A new library opened in July 2012.

Lyman had an elevator installed in the former Swan Library, and added summer youth programs. She welcomed GED classes and promoted arts and culture events. The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council honored her in 2010 with a Community Arts Award “for her passionate contributions to the cultural life in the community and for her preservation efforts at the Swan Library.”

Miller said Lyman served the community in many ways. Miller remembers her presence at the library, and also at the First Presbyterian Church with the choir and as an elder and deacon. Miller and Lyman attended the same church.

“I remember her as a pillar of whatever she was involved in,” Miller said.

Lyman also was involved with scouting, Young Woman’s Service Club, Orleans County Planning Advisory Committee, Bergen Swamp Preservation Society, Albion Board of Education, the Republican Committee, and as a founding member of the Cobblestone Society, serving for many years as the organization’s president.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Santa Claus visited Hoag Library this evening, sporting his casual wear. The library’s main meeting room was full of youngsters wanting to meet Santa and share their Christmas wish list.

Before he met with the children individually, Santa read the book, Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton and Karen Hillard Good.

It was Santa’s first in-person visit to the library in three years. His visits in 2020 and 2021 were limited to Zoom video conferencing.

Santa said he was happy to be back at the Albion library to meet the kids in person. He told him it’s very busy for the elves right now.

“It’s crunch time at the North Pole,” Santa said.

Santa reads the children’s book, Reindeer Christmas.

Santa said he recently got his hair cut and beard trimmed for the first time in years.

“I almost teared up when they were cutting it,” he told the kids.

Santa leads the group in some stretches.

He will be at the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina at 6 p.m. on Friday for “Pajama Storytime with Santa.” Registration is recommended for that program. Call 585-798-3430 for more information.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Michael Bonafede, co-owner of the Pratt and Day buildings at 114-120 North Main St., stands in Beaver Alley this morning by the new Gold Medal Flour mural on the Pratt building.

Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler have owned the building for about 15 years. They had paint scraped early this summer from the brick wall, near the corner of the site by the sidewalk and Beaver Alley.

They were planning to have the spot repainted to list the businesses in the building, and also to paint that parking is available behind the building.

Provided photos

Underneath about seven layers of paint was the original Gold Medal Flour sign. Judith Koehler believes the sign dates to 1906 to 1908. That was the style for the logo at the time.

In 1908, there was a corner store at the site, Woods & Sprague. Bonafede and Koehler know that business was there based on an advertisement from 1908 for an Elks minstrel show at the Pratt Opera House.

When Bonafede and Koehler saw the historic sign for Gold Medal Flour, they changed their plans. Instead of listing the current businesses with a new painted sign on the building, they decided to recreate the Gold Medal Flour display.

They wrote to General Mills and received the company’s licensing permission to have a new sign for Gold Medal on the building in that one spot only.

Bonafede and Koehler also received approval from the State Historic Preservation Office and the Albion Historic Preservation Commission for the sign.

“Nobody even knew that sign was there, nobody,” Bonafede said. “It was a total surprise.”

He and Koehler are thrilled with seeing the old sign and are happy to be recreating the display at their historic building.

“It’s pretty cool that we found it,” Koehler said. “Every once in a while we find something pretty cool.”

The building from 1882 has an intact GAR Room used by the Grand Army of the Republic, and many programs and posters from performances at the opera house, as well as several other artifacts.

Mark Weld, a sign painter from Middleport, works on the project. He is teaming with D.J. Button of Albion and Bonafede on recreating the sign. Bonafede said they are pushing to have the work done before the harsh winter weather.

Photo by Tom Rivers

The sign isn’t quite done. There will be a black outline around the white letters. There will be a silhouette of an Albion skyline below that Bonafede is keeping a surprise. The top part in white will say there is parking in the rear lot.

A Main Street grant from the state is helping to pay for the project.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the 3D Trio (John Borello at right, Alona Kuhns at center and Lonnie Froman at left) perform this afternoon on a stage on Main Street in Albion.

With the lift bridge bridge closed to traffic, the stage was set up for performances from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Beaver Alley and Bank Street.

The 3D Trio who are all members of the Who Dats sang holiday favorites today. The lineup of performers was arranged by Amy Sidari, owner of Gtta Dance by Miss Amy.

She used the backdrop from previous Nicholas Kovaleski Hometown Christmas events.

Amy Sidari and Crystal Hollenbeck lead a group in line dancing as part of today’s entertainment. The performers helped celebrate Small Business Saturday to encourage shopping at locally owned businesses in Albion. The businesses had a passport that encouraged people to visit 20 businesses for the chance to win prizes.

These four competed in an ugly contest. They include from left: Lily Madison of Albion, Brooklyn Carr, Joline Gabrielson of Albion, and Gabrielson’s daughter, Myah Bisig.

Myah Bisig holds up her trophy for winning the ugly sweater contest.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Jeremiah Knight of Albion put a 3-inch border around the 24-foot-long mural of Santa flying in sleigh above Albion.

Knight completed the project earlier this week. The frame will protect the outer edges of the mural that was installed in July 2018 in Waterman Park. Stacey Kirby created the mural, which is 8 feet high.

The Albion Rotary Club led the initial project. The Albion Betterment Committee paid for the new frame. The Betterment Committee also is working to have a bronze statue of Santa at the park next year, with the goal to have it in place by the Strawberry Festival in June.

The mural and statue commemorate the life and work of Charles W. Howard. In 1937, Howard founded a Santa Claus School in Albion, dedicating his life to establishing a high standard for Santas everywhere.

“To play the part of Santa is a privilege, not a job,” Howard said.

Howard served as the Santa in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for nearly 20 years. Howard died in 1966 but the Santa school continues today in his name in Midland, Mich.

Here is how the mural looked before the new frame was added.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The at the Masonic Lodge in Albion poses in the kitchen after they served 182 Thanksgiving dinners.

The Renovation Masonic Lodge teamed with The Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries to prepare and serve the meals. Pictured in front from left include Lisa DeCarlo, Val Rush and Bonnie Johnson. Back row: Dan DeCarlo, Pastor Al Wilson, Ykeeta Wilson, Decklan Meiers, Nicole Horn and Jeff Holler.

Provided photos

Many of the meals were takeouts were delivered to local EMTs, law enforcement officers, Arc residences and the Boxcar Apartments.

Jeff Holler and Nicole Horn fill a takeout tray with food.

Photos by Tom Rivers

Lee Tisdale, owner of Romyn’s Smoked BBQ on Bank Street, also served Thanksgiving meals for free today. He was up to 23 meals at about 2 this afternoon and would be open until 6 p.m.

Tisdale opened Romyn’s about three years ago. He serves barbecued food, as well as Philly steaks, hamburgers and other food.

“This is just a way to give back to the community and thank you for their support,” Tisdale said.

The Orleans Koinonia Kitchen at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Albion also had 350 meals ready to be served today for the community.

Stage will be set up on Main Street near bridge for performers

Photo by Tom Rivers: There will be a stage set up Saturday in this part of Main Street, near the closed off lift bridge, for performers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

ALBION – Merchants are planning an expanded Small Business Saturday celebration in Albion to encourage people to stop by the local shops.

There will be activities in the downtown and also at the Arnold Gregory Complex on South Main Street. The businesses at Arnold Gregory will have a craft sale, basket raffle and will welcome many vendors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The downtown businesses will be offering specials and welcome people to check out the locally owned shops.

“We have a lot of amazing businesses that other places don’t have,” said Laura Kemler, owner of Laura Loxley which makes hand-dyed baskets, purses and vintage items. “People will be surprised by what we have to offer.”

The Main Street lift bridge closed to traffic on Nov. 14 and expected to be shut down for 18 months for a major restoration. Merchants are hoping one silver lining of the project may be it will slow down traffic so people can check out the businesses in the downtown area and also see what is offered at Arnold Gregory. (The businesses also are planning a Hometown Holiday event on Dec. 10.)

For this Saturday there will be a stage set up Main Street between Bank Street and Beaver Alley. Amy Sidari, owner of Gotta Dance by Miss Amy, has performers lined up from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The schedule includes:

• 10 a.m. – Albion High School Clarinet Choir
• 10:30 a.m. – AHS Brass Ensemble
• 11 a.m. – Danielle Schmidt vocal soloist
• 11:15 a.m. – Historic trivia/Pack 164 Boy Scouts skit
• 11:30 a.m. – Celebrate Jonathan Doherty’s memory with karaoke
• Noon – Holiday Tap Dance – Sleigh Ride
• 12:15 p.m. – Historic Trivia
• 12:30 p.m. – Ugly Sweater Parade (meet on the stage – everyone welcome)
• 1 p.m. – Music by the 3D Trio (John Borello, Alona Kuhns and Lonnie Froman)
• 1:30 p.m. – Line dancing with Miss Gloria
• 2 p.m. – Excerpt of the Nutcracker (Snowflakes)
• 2:15 p.m. – Excerpt of the Nutcracker (Flowers)
• 2:30 p.m. – Julia Fuller & Isabelle Truelson Dance Duet
• 2:25 p.m. – Jenna Uderitz dance solo to Holly Jolly Christmas
• 2:30 p.m. – Holiday music
• 3 p.m. – Mia Standish dance solo
• 3:15 – Line dancing with Miss Gloria

Sidari, owner of the dance studio for 25 years, hopes people will enjoy the performers and also explore the downtown businesses.

“This is an opportunity to get acquainted and get to know us,” she said about the businesses. “We want people to enjoy our downtown. People come here and say it’s a beautiful little village – It’s charming.”

Tara Thom, owner of the Town and Country Quilt Shop on Bank Street, said the businesses offer goods and services throughout the year. She would like to see people from outside Albion also shop in the community.

“I’m hoping people will get excited about shopping in their hometown or their neighboring hometown,” Thom said.