Year's worth of detective work results in arrest of married pair in assisted living facility fraud scheme

After a year's worth of detective work to get the arrests, a husband and wife running several assisted living facilities without the proper licensing or staffing were arrested Wednesday morning, culminating the work to shut down their illegal operation.

Marie Tarah Carenean, 56, of Osceola County and Ronald Pack, 60, of Polk County were arrested and charged with scheme to defraud, aggravated elder abuse, elder neglect, elder exploitation and welfare fraud. Carenan was booked into the Osceola County Jail and Pack was booked into the Polk County Jail.

"And a lot more charges are coming," Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said. "We found more evidence when we got in there (this morning)."

According to police, neither the husband nor wife has ever possessed a license to run an Assisted Living Facility, and it was a 911 call to one of the facilities they were running that led an Osceola County deputy, later promoted to detective, to work with a state-wide prosecutor, and other deputies from both Osceola and Polk County and state agencies that regulate Assisted Living Facilities to shut down their illegal operation amidst potential abuse.

"It's a sad day in Osceola County, but it's also a good day because we're putting some people in jail who have been exploiting some of our residents,"  Blackmon said. "The key lead on this first saw this as a patrol deputy, and when he moved into our Criminal Investigations Division brought this case with him, which has been going on for over a year."

According to Osceola Sheriff's spokesperson Capt. Kim Montes, In May of 2025, five residents were re-located to a licensed facility after a court order was issued regarding things like a lack of staff and locks on doors, cabinets and refrigerators. The investigation showed none of the facilities the couple were operating as licensed facilities. Most of what that couple ran as Assisted Living Facilities were rented houses falsely represented as independent living facilities. 

The investigating detective noted that there were locks on windows, doors, refrigerators and other cabinets that stored food for the residents -- which deputies serving warrants on two of the locations in Osceola County found Wednesday morning -- and there were no lifesaving equipment, fire extinguishers or licensed nurses as required for some of the bed-ridden residents.

OCSO deputies, detectives and SWAT members served three warrants Wednesday morning: one at the Bellalago home of the two suspects, where they were taken in to custody. The two homes served each had just one care giver present despite having nine residents at one home and eight at the other, with some bed-ridden with no licensed nurse for them on site. Members of the Department of Children and Families and the State Attorney's Office were also on hand. Polk Sheriff's deputies also served three warrants on home care locations on the Polk side of Poinciana. Of the nine facilities, three were served in Osceola Wednesday, three were served in Polk, and three others were closed down by the defendants during the investigation, Blackmon said.

The state's Department of Children and Families, which oversees such facilities, has been brought in to help relocate the remaining residents to licensed facilities. Montes said DCF was working to relocate 38 residents of the facilities the suspects ran, who are elderly or of diminished mental capacity.

"And many of them thanked us for getting them out of there," she said.

Blackmon said he encourages anyone that knows of an unlicensed facility to contact law enforcement to investigate. 

"The best protection for your loved ones is to do careful research. Please verify them," he said. "Call us if you need to about them. Request documentation, and go unannounced and take a good look at what you see."

The News-Gazette and AroundOsceola.com will be updating this story as affidavits with locations of the facilities and other details are released.