{"id":71934,"date":"2026-06-24T20:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=71934"},"modified":"2026-06-24T20:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:05:19","slug":"detectives-arrest-couple-accused-of-operating-illegal-assisted-living-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/24\/detectives-arrest-couple-accused-of-operating-illegal-assisted-living-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Detectives Arrest Couple Accused of Operating Illegal Assisted Living Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following a yearlong multi-agency investigation, detectives with the Osceola County Sheriff\u2019s Office arrested a Poinciana husband and wife on June 24, 2026<\/strong>, for operating a network of unlicensed, illegal assisted living facilities spanning Osceola and Polk counties<\/strong>.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arrests & Charges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marie Tarah Carenan (56)<\/strong> and Ronald Pack (60)<\/strong> were taken into custody after law enforcement executed six simultaneous search warrants at their residence and several homes used for the operation.<\/sup> They are facing numerous severe felony charges:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Scheme to defraud<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Aggravated elder abuse and elder abuse<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Elder neglect and elder exploitation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Welfare fraud<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Details of the Operation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The couple operated under the business name Cherished Home Care<\/strong>, renting residential homes to house vulnerable, elderly, and in some cases, bedridden residents.<\/sup> Investigators state that the couple managed as many as nine unlicensed facilities<\/strong> at one time without state-required permits or licensed medical personnel on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The probe originally launched after a patrol deputy responded to a 911 call at one of the Poinciana homes and noticed deeply concerning conditions.<\/sup> Over the course of a year, Osceola detectives worked alongside the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), and the Statewide Prosecutor\u2019s Office to dismantle the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Disturbing Conditions & Resident Relocation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    During the raids, investigators documented severe health and safety violations, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Locks installed on windows, doors, refrigerators, and food storage cabinets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • A complete lack of required life-saving equipment or fire extinguishers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Bedridden residents left with zero licensed nursing staff on hand (some homes had up to 9 high-needs residents monitored by only a single, unlicensed caregiver).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      A total of 38 residents were rescued from the properties<\/strong> and successfully relocated to safe, licensed care facilities with the assistance of DCF.<\/sup> Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon stated in a news conference that additional charges are expected as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Following a yearlong multi-agency investigation, detectives with the Osceola County Sheriff\u2019s Office arrested a Poinciana husband and wife on June 24, 2026, for operating a network of unlicensed, illegal assisted… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wNi0yNFQyMDAzNDcuODczLndlYnA_Zml0PTY4NyUyQzM2MSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkRldGVjdGl2ZXMgQXJyZXN0IENvdXBsZSBBY2N1c2VkIG9mIE9wZXJhdGluZyBJbGxlZ2FsIEFzc2lzdGVkIExpdmluZyBGYWNpbGl0aWVzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.kX55wFAxY0ru59ohw9EwGP8ZbD2S8PfwmvJQVMP_zJMMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC9TY3JlZW5zaG90LTIwMjYtMDYtMjRUMjAwMzQ3Ljg3My53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRGV0ZWN0aXZlcyBBcnJlc3QgQ291cGxlIEFjY3VzZWQgb2YgT3BlcmF0aW5nIElsbGVnYWwgQXNzaXN0ZWQgTGl2aW5nIEZhY2lsaXRpZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.eqZlM8XlrLjiVC0EiW3tZvN_Tv1AueC8WE28Ap02WwAMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[15004],"class_list":["post-71934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-detectives-arrest-couple-accused-of-operating-illegal-assisted-living-facilities"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71936,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71934\/revisions\/71936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}