IPNEWS: An investigative report by NPR’s Minnesota affiliate (MPR News) and its national investigative unit, APM Reports, uncovered severe gaps in oversight, rampant neglect, and potential fraud within Minnesota’s booming group home industry.
The report says at least 50 group home residents died under circumstances that triggered state maltreatment investigations. State investigators officially determined that the group home or its staff neglected the resident in 19 of those cases. Many of these deaths were drug-related or due to a lack of basic emergency staff training, such as CPR.
The report highlights that even when severe neglect leading to death was confirmed, state law caps fine amounts at negligible numbers—often ranging from just $1,000 to $5,000 per violation.
The investigation highlighted the case of Sekou Dukuly, a high-ranking Liberian government official who was simultaneously listed as the day-to-day director for three Minnesota group homes while living thousands of miles away in West Africa. Companies linked to Dukuly received $36 million in taxpayer-funded Medicaid payments over a decade, despite being tied to 22 maltreatment investigations and multiple resident deaths.
The rapid growth of group homes has heavily burdened local resources. In some Twin Cities suburbs like Brooklyn Park, group homes account for roughly 10% of all local emergency service calls. Police frequently report arriving to find staff with zero knowledge of their residents’ medical or psychological conditions.
Following the publication of the MPR News/APM Reports investigation, major regulatory actions were taken, the Minnesota Department of Health revoked the licenses of three group homes run by Dukuly’s affiliate, Golden Touch Health Care, citing an “imminent risk of harm” due to a total lack of leadership.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services suspended payments to these facilities following “credible allegations of Medicaid fraud”.
Both major-party gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota heavily criticized the state’s social services sector, pledging to pass stricter regulatory oversight, close enforcement loopholes, and root out industrial-scale fraud.
