The Puerto Rico Department of Health removed six participants with intellectual disabilities from Hogar Jardín del Edén in Isabela while it investigates an anonymous complaint alleging abuse and mistreatment. Health Secretary Víctor Ramos Otero confirmed the removal in an interview with journalist Milly Méndez on the program Pegao’s en la Mañana (Radio Isla 1320 AM and Telemundo).
Ramos Otero said the agency received an anonymous email, also sent to the federal monitor, other officials and Telemundo’s investigative program Rayos X, which made the case public. Department staff went to the home, and on Thursday morning they interviewed each participant individually and corroborated that some of the allegations could be true. Ramos Otero then decided to move the participants.
He said a full investigation will follow, and depending on the result he will decide whether to make referrals to authorities and whether to keep the home’s contract. Citing patient confidentiality, he gave no details of what the participants said. According to Rayos X, the email, sent on October 14, alleges the owner forced residents to perform oral sex on each other, and describes physical, verbal and financial mistreatment, including making residents fight, taking clothes given by relatives, and gambling games in which residents lost their money.
Journalist José Carlos Sánchez Cintrón said the home opened last year and received $6,500 a month per participant. Employees were not interviewed; the home may rebut the allegations and present its evidence.