FALL RIVER, Mass. (WPRI) — The longtime owner of the Massachusetts assisted living facility where a fire killed nine people on Sunday night has faced multiple criminal charges and sexual harassment lawsuits over the past two decades, NewsNation affiliate WPRI reports.

A review of local, state and federal court documents by WPRI shows Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn, along with his companies, have been the focus of at least one high-profile criminal case alleging a Medicaid kickback scheme. Separately, multiple female employees at Gabriel House have come forward and accused him of sexually harassing them dating back to the early 2000s.

Etzkorn — who has disputed all of the claims against him in court filings — has not responded to requests for comment.

A person answering a phone number listed for Etzkorn hung up when WPRI called on Monday afternoon. A defense attorney who once served as Etzkorn’s lawyer said he no longer represents him.

Massachusetts assisted living facility fire

Etzkorn was seen at Gabriel House on Monday viewing the damage, and Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said he is cooperating with the investigation into the fire. The district attorney’s office said Monday night that the cause of the fire did not appear suspicious.

The building where Gabriel House operates was originally constructed in 1964, on the site of a former lumber yard, and opened as the Redwood Manor motel. It reopened under its current name in 1999 as an assisted living facility, and Etzkorn has been one of its owners from the start.

At the time of the fire, Gabriel House had 88 bedroom units, according to records. An inspection last October documented 15 occupants on the first floor, 28 on the second floor and 33 on the third floor. The monthly rental rate for a studio apartment was $2,400 if the occupant needed assistance and $1,800 if the person could live independently, according to the Gabriel House website.

Gabriel House fire: Worker describes blaze as ‘horror show’

Fall River’s assistant city solicitor on Monday refused to immediately release health inspection records for Gabriel House. One city employee said they showed rodent and bedbug problems at the facility in the past. The city’s building inspector told WPRI the facility had been given a clean bill of health, though its sprinkler system appeared old.

Debbie Johnson, a nurse who said she worked at Gabriel House, told reporters she showed up Sunday night and discovered “a horror show” as firefighters sought to pull disabled residents out of the building through windows. She also joined others in expressing criticism of how the facility was run.

“Understaffed?” she said. “That’s an understatement.”

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging & Independence conducted its last on-site visit at Gabriel House in October 2023, and was scheduled for another compliance visit this fall, according to the state.

$950K settlement over Medicaid charges

In most of the cases involving Etzkorn, the legal issues have either been dismissed or settled, WPRI reports.

In 2015, Etzkorn and two other defendants agreed to pay $950,000 to settle the criminal case over alleged Medicaid kickbacks. The case was filed by Attorney General Martha Coakley and ended under her successor, now-Gov. Maura Healey, who visited the site of the fire on Monday.

The agreement states Etzkorn did not admit nor deny the allegations when he settled the case.

The settlement came three years after a grand jury indicted Etzkorn and accused him of paying $150 kickbacks to people who referred clients to sign up for Medicaid-funded adult foster care through a company he owned called Gabriel Care LLC. That company is legally separate from Gabriel Care Inc., which operates Gabriel House, but court documents indicate they shared administrative staff.

Court records show 44 referrals that came as a result of the scheme resulted in 687 claims totaling $1.2 million paid to Gabriel Care through MassHealth, which is the name of the Medicaid program in Massachusetts. Offering kickbacks to drum up business is illegal under Medicaid laws, Healey’s office alleged.

“Notably, and purposefully, the $150 check was not paid out to the referring caregiver or client immediately upon making the referral,” state attorneys wrote. “Rather, the check was written months after the client’s placement so as to ensure that Gabriel Care would first receive a payment from MassHealth for caregiver services rendered to the client.”

The state’s case hit a snag in early 2015 when two judges ruled much of the evidence in the case shouldn’t be allowed at trial because it was gathered as the result of improper search warrants. The two sides agreed to settle.

The indictment forced then-gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker to return a campaign contribution from Etzkorn, according to reports.

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Sexual harassment at Gabriel House alleged

More than a decade earlier, in 2003, a registered nurse named Catherine Gaw and her husband filed a federal lawsuit against Etzkorn, alleging he created a hostile workplace at Gabriel House and regularly sexually harassed her when she worked as the program director.

Gaw, who helped create the adult foster care program at the center of the criminal case, accused Etzkorn of regularly making unwanted sexual remarks toward her, and to her 14-year-old daughter on one occasion.

“Etzkorn’s behavior was intimidating, hostile, humiliating and created a sexually offensive work environment,” Gaw’s attorney wrote in the criminal complaint that demanded $127,000 in damages.

Etzkorn filed a counter lawsuit, accusing Gaw of trying to coerce Etzkorn into paying her a percentage of Gabriel House profits under the guise of baseless allegations. After eight months of legal fighting, the two sides settled outside of court. The terms were not disclosed and the case was dismissed.

Etzkorn faced allegations in a different lawsuit eight years later.

In 2011, then-Gabriel House bookkeeper and receptionist Loriann Lajoie, who started working at the facility three years earlier, accused Etzkorn of sexual harassment, detailing the allegations in a graphic 18-page federal lawsuit.

Lajoie painted the workplace at Gabriel House as toxic and riddled with sexual harassment, alleging “Etzkorn had a reputation … for harassing young, female employees” between the ages of 17 and 30 years old.

Etzkorn defended behavior with workers

Similar to the Gaw case, Etzkorn filed a counter lawsuit, alleging Lajoie and two other female employees were all close and intimate friends who confided in him “intimate details of their personal lives and sex lives.”

“The humor between all of them was often sexually suggestive and initiated in many instances by the women especially by Lajoie,” Etzkorn’s attorney wrote, adding that Lajoie never objected to the conversations and contact by Etzkorn.

He accused Lajoie of intimately and sexually interacting with him before illegally recording it “as part of conspiracy to extort money from him,” according to court documents.

Etzkorn included sworn affidavits from other staff corroborating his version of events, which Lajoie alleged were put together by people who feared losing their jobs if they did otherwise.

The dispute was again settled outside court with undisclosed terms, and the case was dismissed.

In 2013, Lajoie’s sister, Sherrie Branco, came forward and accused Etzkorn of “severe sexual harassment, including unwelcomed and unconsented to physical touching” at Gabriel House.

The lawsuit also alleged Etzkorn created a hostile workplace and that Branco was subjected to retaliation when she was considering filing her own sexual harassment complaint at the same time as her sister.

Branco accused Etzkorn of pursuing criminal charges against her, which resulted in a lengthy criminal complaint against her alleging larceny, fraud, forgery, embezzlement, credit card fraud and illegal wiretapping, according to court documents.

Branco said the charges — which she alleged came brought as an effort to silence her — were eventually dropped.

Etzkorn fired back with yet another counter lawsuit, reiterating much of what he alleged in his counterclaim against Lajoie. He accused Branco of conspiring to entrap him and extort money from him by threatening to go to his wife and family.

“Etzkorn is a responsible business man that treated all of his employees in a professional manner,” Etzkorn’s attorney wrote, further suggesting in the counterclaim that Branco refused to cooperate in an investigation into missing narcotics.

The case was settled outside of court. The terms weren’t disclosed and the case was dismissed.

Beyond the sexual harassment lawsuits, Etzkorn was also found to have wrongfully fired a female worker in 2010 who spoke up in support of a co-worker who criticized an effort from management to force providers to sign non-compete agreements, according to a report by The Boston Globe.

Etzkorn was ordered to pay the woman $63,052 in damages, attorney fees and accrued interest, the paper reported.

Rhode Island Medicaid business remains dormant

Gabriel House is just one of a number of health care-related businesses owned by Etzkorn, who lives in Medfield, Massachusetts.

Another company, Accurate Health Care LLC, was registered to do business in Rhode Island and licensed by the state Medicaid office in April 2019 as a provider of shared living through a program called RIte @ Home. A document from two years later listed Accurate, with Etzkorn as the owner, as one of a small number of providers participating in the program.

“However, they never completed required training with us, never received any referrals, and never submitted any claims,” said Kerri White, a spokesperson for the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Etzkorn also owns the Plymouth Center for Behavioral Health in Massachusetts and another Accurate Care entity in Connecticut, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a post on LinkedIn three months ago, he indicated plans to open a new mental health clinic in Fall River.

Sarah Guernelli contributed to this report.