COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va — The investigation of alleged crimes that prosecutors believe occurred at Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is expanding and will soon be in the hands of a group of citizens.
The Colonial Heights Commonwealth's Attorney filed a petition on Tuesday requesting the court to convene a special grand jury to investigate "ongoing issues and conditions" at the facility.
It was December 2024 when 18 staff members at the nursing home were initially arrested in an alleged elder abuse investigation. Prosecutors claimed a resident received inadequate care, developed wounds, and ultimately died as a result.
What began as a case involving one alleged victim has now escalated into something much bigger, according to prosecutors.
“Once the story broke, for lack of a better term, we received numerous phone calls, emails, letters. I think we're well up to almost 200 complaints that all obviously deserve time, and they deserve to be investigated," said Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Noelle Nochisaki.
Because of that, prosecutors want a special grand jury, consisting of up to eleven citizens, to investigate a multitude of alleged crimes that they say "seem to be developing into a pattern relating to the care" of current or former residents. The Commonwealth's petition states the alleged crimes "span multiple victims and multiple employees."
The special grand jury will return indictments where they find probable cause. Special grand juries are uncommon and different from regular grand juries as they meet for a longer period of time and focus on one expansive topic.
“We felt this was the best way to investigate it. Give it to a citizens' panel, let them determine whether a crime is committed down there or not," Collins said.
According to the petition, the alleged criminal activity prosecutors say will be considered includes abuse and neglect, assault, sexual battery, possession of drugs, faslsifying documents, stealing medication from patients and potentially selling it to the public, potential money laundering, and potential Medicaid and Medicare fraud.
“We walked into this thinking it was kind of on a surface here, and as we've gone into it, and more things have uncovered and just realized the depth and the breadth of it, it's so expansive," Nochisaki said.
The filing came the same day that lawyers from McGuireWoods representing the facility argued in court that the Colonial Heights Police's searches and seizures at the nursing home were illegal.
Mike Herring, an attorney for the facility, claimed officers lacked probable cause to obtain search warrants in the first place. He argued investigating officer Detective Davis failed to establish that the alleged victim who complained of inadequate care was a credible source of information.
In another instance, Herring argued police failed to provide a copy of the warrant to facility staff upon arrival to conduct a search, which he said violated the law.
Since the facility itself is not an active defendant in any criminal case, Herring will also have to convince Circuit Court Judge Steven Novey that the facility has standing in arguing the seizures were unlawful. Herring said that the nursing home was in fact an aggrieved person in the matter because the police's actions caused "incredible disruption" to operations, seized records and data are still in the custody of police, and there was an unauthorized seizure of patient records that were not covered by the warrant.
Meanwhile, Collins rejected the allegations and argued that the probable cause standard was indeed met, the officer did establish the informer's credibility by independently verifying her statements, and the officer did not need to immediately show proof of the warrant to facility staff because it was under seal.
While Herring said his request to the court was for seized property and data to be returned to the facility, Collins warned a ruling in the facility's favor could lead to evidence being suppressed in future hearings and trials.
Judge Novey said it could take multiple weeks before he issues a ruling.
“I don't think Detective Davis did anything wrong. She wasn't malicious at all. The special grand jury, when they start getting their own subpoenas and questioning witnesses, will have even another layer of protection for the citizens, because you'll have the citizens' body asking for those documents, and then Detective Davis helping them," Collins said.
It could take a special grand jury up to six months or longer to complete its work on the case.
When asked for a response to the allegations in the special grand jury petition, facility spokesperson Mindie Barnett said, "The request for a grand jury hearing is a legal matter that has been highly sensationalized. We will respond to legal filings in the appropriate location, a court of law. Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is confident of the high quality of care and services we are providing our residents."
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