State raids Carson elder care center

Investigators from the Attorney General's Office, apparently armed with a sealed search warrant, raided the Evergreen Mountain View Health and Rehabilitation Center on Thursday night, closing the doors to anyone entering or leaving without approval.

According to two employees who were eventually allowed to leave the Koontz Lane building, about 10 officers in windbreakers marked "Police," entered the center around 8:15 p.m. and announced they had a search warrant.

The details of the warrant were not available, said Tom Sargent, public information officer for the Attorney General's Office.

"There's not a lot I can tell you," he said about 11:15 p.m. "The warrant is sealed."

Video recording and photographing equipment was carried in by investigators. They were later seen photographing items through an uncovered window, before two females, apparently employees of the center, placed sheets over them.

An employee who asked not to be identified, said he was told by an investigator he was not involved in the search warrant. He was told he could leave and was escorted from the building a half hour later.

On his way out, the man claimed, he overheard one investigator tell another, "We're going to shut this place off. No one in and no one out."

Another worker who asked to remain anonymous said an investigator asked her if she'd ever seen anything "unusual," in the facility. She told them no, she said.

Recently an investigation into a complaint about the care of an 87-year-old man who died at the facility in December was re-opened by the Nevada Bureau of Licensure and Certification.

Six other Evergreen patients died Dec. 9, allegedly of a flu-like illness. The Health Division and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta investigated the deaths.

A bacteria known as Group A Beta Strep and an influenza virus were isolated from some of the patients, but no single causative agent or organism was named.

Sargent said it was unclear if the warrant was related to that investigation.

Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.