incredulity. She'd never heard a single word of complaint against Dorothea Puente. Hadn't Dorothea been terrific with all of her clients? In Nickerson's mind, she was "the best the system had to offer."
But Spring was tenacious; she recounted some of what she knew of Puente's history , believing she was imparting a "warning" to Peggy Nickerson.
Again, these allegations were so contrary to Nickerson's personal experience that she, like Judy Moise and Beth Valentine, simply couldn't swallow them.
Having her suspicions meet only with skepticism put Polly Spring in an exasperated funk. Finally, she was moved to send a memo to her supervisor, Phil Goldvarg:
Re: Dorothea Johansen [sic] AKA: Dorothea Puente
Date: June 9, 1988
Ms. Puente has surfaced again in the community, furnishing housing and tender-loving, but street-wise, care to vulnerable clients. She is used by Case Management Services and by Peggy Nickerson of the Elderly Homeless program.
Since neither referring agency is aware of Ms. Puente's history, each is enthusiastic about her not requiring money up front and running a good unlicensed facility. Ms. Puente, as this department is aware, poses some dangers to helpless clients, however, and I wonder what our responsibility is.
I knew Dorothea as Ms. Johansen [sic] in the '60s and the '70s, located at 21st It F St. Her facility was ultimately closed and she was sent to prison then for misusing clients' funds.
Subsequently, there was an allegation (later proved I think) of homicide against the lady, involving an elderly client. I don't know how to document this part of Ms Johansen's [sic] history, except to ask Blanche Blizzard and Mildred Ballenger, who were instrumental in the case
Informally, Judy Mollice [sic] of Case Management Services and Peggy Nickerson have been apprised of Ms Johansen's [sic] history as far as I remember it.
Is anything more required?
When Goldvarg attempted to act on this memo he was hampered by simple errors, but he shortly spoke with his supervisor, Fran Alberghini , who then relayed these concerns to her supervisor, Charlene Silva. The upshot of their discussion was that they should do two things: First, report Puente to Community Care Licensing; and second, ask county counsel whether they could legally share their suspicions about Puente with other agencies .
Good intentions, lousy follow-through.
Community Care Licensing sent a representative to check out Puente's establishment. For half an hour, she "toured" the upstairs quarters while Puente poured on her old-fashioned charm. Dorothea maintained that she didn't run a board-and-care facility, that she didn't really even have tenants. The downstairs residences, she said, were "separate and unconnected."
Before departing, the gullible representative asked Mrs. Puente to sign a licensing report indicating that complaints against the establishment were unsubstantiated and that no deficiencies were cited. With that, she handed Puente a copy of the report and bid good-bye.
To conclude her investigation, the representative phoned Peggy Nickerson about placements made to Puente's home. Afterward, she filled out a form, which read, in part:
Kmckerson [sic] stated approx 2 years ago Dorothea called her to offer her home as temporary shelter. A little less than once a month, Dorothea takes people in who have run out of money. They stay for 1 to 5 days. Dorothea provides food and shelter for free. The people she takes in are independent but have just run out of money.
Later that day, the representative phoned Goldvarg to report that Puente was not operating the type of facility that required licensing and that everything was "okay."
Step one was completed. As step two, Alberghini spoke with Deputy County Counsel Michelle Bach.
One of the county counsel's functions is to protect county agencies from litigation. Less politely, this job function might be summed up by those three inglorious little words: Cover your
But Spring was tenacious; she recounted some of what she knew of Puente's history , believing she was imparting a "warning" to Peggy Nickerson.
Again, these allegations were so contrary to Nickerson's personal experience that she, like Judy Moise and Beth Valentine, simply couldn't swallow them.
Having her suspicions meet only with skepticism put Polly Spring in an exasperated funk. Finally, she was moved to send a memo to her supervisor, Phil Goldvarg:
Re: Dorothea Johansen [sic] AKA: Dorothea Puente
Date: June 9, 1988
Ms. Puente has surfaced again in the community, furnishing housing and tender-loving, but street-wise, care to vulnerable clients. She is used by Case Management Services and by Peggy Nickerson of the Elderly Homeless program.
Since neither referring agency is aware of Ms. Puente's history, each is enthusiastic about her not requiring money up front and running a good unlicensed facility. Ms. Puente, as this department is aware, poses some dangers to helpless clients, however, and I wonder what our responsibility is.
I knew Dorothea as Ms. Johansen [sic] in the '60s and the '70s, located at 21st It F St. Her facility was ultimately closed and she was sent to prison then for misusing clients' funds.
Subsequently, there was an allegation (later proved I think) of homicide against the lady, involving an elderly client. I don't know how to document this part of Ms Johansen's [sic] history, except to ask Blanche Blizzard and Mildred Ballenger, who were instrumental in the case
Informally, Judy Mollice [sic] of Case Management Services and Peggy Nickerson have been apprised of Ms Johansen's [sic] history as far as I remember it.
Is anything more required?
When Goldvarg attempted to act on this memo he was hampered by simple errors, but he shortly spoke with his supervisor, Fran Alberghini , who then relayed these concerns to her supervisor, Charlene Silva. The upshot of their discussion was that they should do two things: First, report Puente to Community Care Licensing; and second, ask county counsel whether they could legally share their suspicions about Puente with other agencies .
Good intentions, lousy follow-through.
Community Care Licensing sent a representative to check out Puente's establishment. For half an hour, she "toured" the upstairs quarters while Puente poured on her old-fashioned charm. Dorothea maintained that she didn't run a board-and-care facility, that she didn't really even have tenants. The downstairs residences, she said, were "separate and unconnected."
Before departing, the gullible representative asked Mrs. Puente to sign a licensing report indicating that complaints against the establishment were unsubstantiated and that no deficiencies were cited. With that, she handed Puente a copy of the report and bid good-bye.
To conclude her investigation, the representative phoned Peggy Nickerson about placements made to Puente's home. Afterward, she filled out a form, which read, in part:
Kmckerson [sic] stated approx 2 years ago Dorothea called her to offer her home as temporary shelter. A little less than once a month, Dorothea takes people in who have run out of money. They stay for 1 to 5 days. Dorothea provides food and shelter for free. The people she takes in are independent but have just run out of money.
Later that day, the representative phoned Goldvarg to report that Puente was not operating the type of facility that required licensing and that everything was "okay."
Step one was completed. As step two, Alberghini spoke with Deputy County Counsel Michelle Bach.
One of the county counsel's functions is to protect county agencies from litigation. Less politely, this job function might be summed up by those three inglorious little words: Cover your
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