Virginia lawmakers demanded in April that oversight be conducted of Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, where 18 staff members were arrested in December 2024 for alleged elder abuse.
A resident who received inadequate care, according to prosecutors, developed wounds and died. However, what began with one case evolved into a bigger situation.
“Once the story broke, for lack of a better term, we received numerous phone calls, emails, letters. I think we’re well up to almost 200 complaints that all obviously deserve time, and they deserve to be investigated,” Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Noelle Nochisaki told WTVR in Richmond.
Multiple reports indicate persistent staffing issues that management has failed to resolve. A Virginia Department of Health inspection report published in February 2025 found that staff did not promptly respond to requests for assistance from residents, failed to check on residents at regular intervals, and did not help residents maintain proper hygiene.
Insufficient staffing was also reported, which forced nursing personnel into unsafe situations, such as a single assistant being responsible for caring for more than 30 residents.
Alarming reports had reached Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, Congressman Rob Wittman, and Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine about the need for stronger safeguards in nursing homes to protect seniors after alarming reports of alleged abuse, neglect and falsified records at the center.
The four lawmakers called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in late April to conduct enhanced oversight of the situation.
“These reports are simply heartbreaking; it is critical that our seniors receive the quality care they’ve earned and deserve. We share the same goal of quality care for all seniors, and it is critical that we conduct rigorous review of the reports at Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. … We look forward to working with CMS to improve Medicare for all Americans to ensure accountability and transparency in all Medicare expenditures,” the letter states.
The letter references a December 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG), which found that half of the sampled Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) failed to properly adjust related-party costs in their Medicare reporting — resulting in more than $1.7 million in overstated costs.
“The deeply concerning and persistent reports emerging from Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center warrant a thorough investigation. Federal and state officials have a responsibility to uphold the dignity and well-being of every Virginian, especially those who are most vulnerable and in need of care. These individuals are parents, grandparents and loved ones whose voices often go unheard,” McClellan wrote in her letter.
According to McClellan, Virginian families trust nursing and rehabilitation centers to provide care and attention for their loved ones and they should not have to question whether their trust is misplaced.
“Virginians deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing their loved ones are safe, valued and treated with the utmost dignity,” McClellan wrote.
She called the reports from the Colonial Heights center “disturbing” and encouraged federal and state authorities to ensure the center corrects the situation immediately.
After investigators of the center discovered “substantially more victims,” as reported by WTVR, the news outlet reported that the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Colonial Heights filed a petition for a special grand jury to look into the center’s conditions. Therefore, prosecutors want a special grand jury of residents to investigate what seems to be a pattern related to care of current and former residents of the center.
The petition by the Commonwealth’s Attorney stated that multiple residents and multiple employees are involved in the situation. Alleged criminal activity includes abuse and neglect, assault, sexual battery, possession of drugs, falsifying documents, stealing medications from patients and selling them to the public, possible money laundering and potential Medicaid and Medicare fraud.
“We walked into this thinking it was kind of on a surface here, and as we’ve gone into it, and more things have uncovered and just realized the depth and the breadth of it, it’s so expansive,” Nochisaki said.
A special grand jury’s work could take up to six months or more to complete.
“The request for a grand jury hearing is a legal matter that has been highly sensationalized. We will respond to legal filings in the appropriate location, a court of law. Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is confident of the high quality of care and services we are providing our residents,” facility spokesperson Mindie Barnett told WTVR.
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Rebecca Barnabi
