A Texas caregiver charged with assault and patient endangerment is now being investigated in connection with the deaths of 20 people and has been charged with at least one count of murder.
Regla Becquer, 49, owner of several nursing homes under her LLC ‘Love and Caring for People’, is accused of keeping her patients in poverty and plundering their bank accounts.
Local authorities have since charged Becquer with murder on June 20 and discovered a pattern of deaths among the people she was supposed to care for.
An additional seven victims have been added who have died while Becquer was in custody since September 2022. Many of them died before the investigation began.
“We have learned that there have been some very concerning events in these homes and we want to ensure that no victims are left behind,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said in a statement.
Regla Becquer, 49, a Texas caregiver charged with assault and patient endangerment, is now under investigation in the deaths of 20 people in her care over the past two years
“Fortunately, our investigation has resulted in several clients being removed from their homes so they can receive the legitimate care they need. But there may be others we need to help.”
In March, it was revealed that she is also accused of poisoning patients. Chris Devendorf, the brother of a man who died in her care in January, claims this caused his brother’s condition to deteriorate rapidly when he moved in with her.
“There was something different in his voice,” Devendorf said of his brother, Kelly Pankratz, when he last spoke to him. “He was slurring. It sounded like he had something in his mouth.”
Although her nursing homes are reportedly unlicensed, patients were sent to Becquer by hospitals when they did not meet the criteria for care in an accredited facility, according to CLIFF.
A search warrant obtained by WFAA initially claimed that 13 patients had died in her homes since September 2022, as patients were allegedly left in poor conditions. New revelations have found seven more victims.
Kelly Pankratz’s brother said he developed a brain disorder that caused confusion. After being hospitalized for sepsis, he broke his ankle on his way home.
Pankratz was subsequently placed in one of Becquer’s nursing homes, which Devendorf said led to a rapid deterioration in his brother’s condition.
He claimed that Becquer would not take him to scheduled doctor appointments and that they had difficulty contacting Pankratz for months.
Chris Devendorf, right, Kelly Pankratz’s brother, died in January in her care, amid claims his brother’s health rapidly deteriorated after moving into her home
“It was impossible,” family friend Barton Gross told WFAA. “There was just no way to reach him. No mailing address, no way to even send a card.”
Becquer is accused of strategically moving patients between homes to avoid detection and cut off contact with their families.
Devendorf said the last time he spoke to his brother was in January, when he was experiencing the slurred speech patterns that concerned him.
Hours later, Pankratz died in one of Becquer’s homes. His cause of death has not yet been determined and no autopsy has been performed.
The brother said he became suspicious of Becquer and wanted to know “if he was drugged.” The search warrant also said several others, including former patients and their relatives, have accused her of poisoning them.
Becquer is also alleged to have stolen money from her patients, spending $100,000 of Pankratz’s money over a six-month period.
Although the purchases were made in his name, his family claimed that he was known to be frugal, so frugal that he was “miserly.” Spending excessively did not suit him.
Many of the online purchases were also made online, Devendorf said, despite the fact that his brother didn’t have a phone or computer.
Pankratz, left, developed a brain condition that caused confusion and after being hospitalized for sepsis, he broke his ankle on the way home
Gross added: “I don’t think he spent the money… he was frugal. Kelly was frugal to the point where he was almost stingy.”
Investigators allege that Becquer also stole cars from victims and committed various forms of identity theft, and had multiple individuals sign over their power of attorney.
Many were said to be only mildly disabled and mentally healthy, but their condition rapidly deteriorated when they entered nursing homes.
One woman, Kren Walker, also allegedly signed over the deed to her home to Becquer in her will, in a handwritten note just two weeks before her death.
The will, which was only one sentence long, is now the subject of a forgery investigation by Arlington police, reports KHOU-11.
According to KLIF, another victim with cerebral palsy said she slit her own wrists in desperation to escape her home and was taken to hospital.
She also claimed she was made to sleep on a bare mattress covered in her own feces and was given an “unprescribed peppermint medication” to prevent her from escaping.
Arlington police say they still don’t know how many nursing homes Becquer operated, since the city of Arlington does not require annual licensing, unlike Dallas, where every nursing home must have a license.
Becquer also allegedly stole money from her patients, including claims that she spent $100,000 of Pankratz’s money in a six-month period. Pictured is one of her nursing homes
She was seized last November when police were called to one of the homes after a neighbour saw a patient fall in her backyard.
When police arrived, they found two more patients. Becquer reportedly told a guard not to let police into the home “to check on the patients’ well-being.”
“Officers and EMS believed there was a need to check the welfare of other patients in the home,” the search warrant said.