The state health department has revoked the licenses of a Southern Arizona childrenβs home operator with the worst health and safety record in the state. The decision to force the closure of two group homes southeast of Tucson follows a judgeβs finding the operator, Maryβs Mission, knowingly and repeatedly misled state health inspectors and could not be trusted to provide a safe environment for troubled children.
William Lacey Jr. of Sierra Vista, chief executive of Maryβs Mission β which is registered as a charity but also claims to be a βBBB-approved businessβ β could not be reached for comment on the decision or whether he plans to appeal it.
He did not respond to an email request copied to his attorney, which the attorney received and read, according to a receptionist who answered the law office phone on Monday.
The two homes in neighboring Cochise County take in 11- to-17-year-olds from Tucson and beyond, many of whom came from abusive or unstable backgrounds and had emotional scars that impaired their ability to function. The cost of the care they receive at Maryβs Mission is largely funded by taxpayers through the stateβs medical insurance plan for those with low incomes.
Since 2019, the facilities have been cited 64 times for deficiencies including chronic overcrowding, lack of nutritious food, faulty dosing of prescription medications and failure to demonstrate that residents were receiving adequate mental health care. The state has imposed more than $18,000 in fines.
Records had been falsified
In December, administrative law judge Tammy L. Eigenheer heard four days of closed-door testimony on whether the homes should stay open.
The Arizona Department of Health Services launched its shut-down effort in June after health inspectors responding to a complaint in April found a total of 50 violations at the two facilities.
Twenty-four of those violations β including overcrowding, falsifying documents, failure to ensure employees had criminal background checks, failure to ensure staffers were qualified and failure to document when residents ran away β formed the basis of the stateβs revocation case.
The health department said four records were falsified: a fire inspection report for an illegal building addition; a list of boys home residents that concealed the fact the home was overcapacity; a quality report copied and pasted from an identical report with a different date and a case in which a Maryβs Mission billing clerk signed a residentβs psychotherapy treatment plan as if she was a state-licensed mental health professional.
Judge: Homes pose βdangerβ
The judge found the two homes posed βimmediate dangerβ to residents and should not be allowed to continue operating.
Her 24-page written decision noted Lacey and three of his subordinates testified in support of keeping the homes open. They told the judge problems have been corrected and said the false information provided to health inspectors resulted from innocent errors by an employee who was admonished after the state pointed out the discrepancies.
But the judge rejected their testimony, ruling in favor of the health department and against Maryβs Mission on all 24 of the violations at issue in the case. In every instance, the βweight of credible evidenceβ supported the stateβs version of events, Eigenheer said.
The judge said she was especially concerned Maryβs Mission personnel had repeatedly βdisplayed a willingness to knowingly provide false and misleading informationβ to inspectors and gave testimony that, in one case, directly contradicted photographs taken by inspectors.
Lacey, 58, has refused for months to comment to the Arizona Daily Star, which first reported in August that Maryβs Mission had more state fines and violations than any of the 150 or so similar childrenβs home operators statewide.
A few days after the December state hearing, Lacey and his lawyers and subordinates did provide commentsΒ to the Sierra Vista Herald in which they claimed a state inspector and a local fire official had engaged in βcollusionβ to shut them down.
It isn't clear if Lacey raised the collusion claim during the hearing. it wasn't mentioned in judgeβs written decision.
The state hearing also was scheduled to review a cease and desist order the state imposed on Maryβs Mission in June for operating an illegal, unlicensed third group home not far from its other two homes. The matter was dropped when Maryβs Mission decided not to fight the state order.
A business or a charity?
It isnβt clear what will become of Maryβs Mission, which reported nearly $1.9 million in tax-exempt revenue on its most recent nonprofit tax return, with Lacey receiving a salary of $191,000.
The group homes are central to the organizationβs charity status. Their purpose, as stated on tax returns, is to βprovide a safe environment for at-risk boys and girls who were either wards of the state or homeless due to circumstances that they could not control.β
Maryβs Missionβs own website raises questions about whether the organization is adhering to federal regulations that govern nonprofit agencies.
The website describes Maryβs Mission as a βBBB-accredited businessβ which β if true β could run afoul of a rule that requires nonprofits to be βorganized and operated exclusivelyβ for nonprofit purposes.
The Better Business Bureau Serving Southern Arizona says it has no connection to Maryβs Mission. BBB spokeswoman Dennise Alvarez told the Star the organization doesnβt qualify to be a BBB-accredited business since itβs a nonprofit.
The use of the BBBβs accreditation logo βconstitutes trademark infringement,β and Maryβs Mission will be notified to take it down, she said.
Lacey, the CEO, has declined to answer questions about the website.