Troubled Rastelle Manor assisted living facility in Daytona Beach will change ownership

Rastelle Manor in Daytona Beach

CIJ Ventures & Properties LLC began to take over the assisted-living facility after Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration issued a final order in July to the former owners.

After five years of “deplorable” conditions and multiple calls to local law enforcement regarding dangerous residents and other issues, Rastelle Manor in Daytona Beach may soon be getting a new owner after the state told the current owners they had to sell.

But records show the troubled assisted living facility’s current owner once shared an address with the prospective new owner. Documents from the Florida Secretary of State office show that the facility’s current owners and the people who want to buy Rastelle Manor once shared an address for separate businesses in 2009.

According to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, Jeffery Gasmena is listed as the owner of CIJ Ventures & Properties, the company wanting to take over Rastelle Manor, the 25-bed facility at 934 S. Ridgewood Ave. Rastelle Manor’s current owner is Bersonn LLC, which has owned the facility since 2005.

In April 2009, state records show Gasmena was the owner of Holy Hands Assisted Living and Care Services. That company shared an address — 815 W. Daughtery Road, Lakeland — with New Era Assisted Living Facility, which is also owned by Bersonn LLC.

Bersonn LLC, owned by Cheryl and Winston Bernabe, took over the New Era facility in Lakeland in August 2009, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. Holy Hands, which is not listed with AHCA, had the same address as New Era until changing their address in April 2010, according to state records.

But Jhuelian Gasmena, who will now serve as an administrator for Rastelle Manor with Robyne Gasmena and Cherwai Jan Gasmena, told The News-Journal he does not know anything about Holy Hands and he’s had no previous interaction with the Bernabes. Cheryl Bernabe also said does not know the Gasmena family.

Brian Lee has seen many assisted-living facilities change ownership over to acquaintances during the nearly 20 years he’s been executive director of Families for Better Care, a national non-profit citizen advocacy group dedicated to bringing awareness to the conditions of assisted-living facilities. His experience makes him wonder about the shared address.

“A shared address, that is more than just a coincidence,” Lee said.

But nothing is set in stone yet. In July, AHCA issued a final order to the Bernabe’s that required them to pay a $36,000 fine, restricted them from renewing or applying for another license to operate an assisted-living facility and required them to find a buyer for Rastelle Manor or shut the doors for good by Sept. 13.

Then, last week, AHCA decided to extend the Bernabe’s licence for another month because the change of ownership application is still pending. This will give the agency time to complete a final inspection to make sure the outstanding reporteed issues — such as unsanitary bathrooms, bug infestations lack of social and leisure activities, lack of medication monitoring and background screenings for employees — have been corrected.

Asked if the past shared mailing address between the Bernabes and the Gasmenas presented any issue, ACHA replied in an emailed statement that “CIJ Ventures & Properties does not have a regulatory record that would disqualify them from purchasing this facility.”

Jhuelian Gasmena said he looks forward to turning the troubled facility around.

“I’m aware of the history with the place and I’m very much wanting to get involved in turning that around and hopefully improving its overall image,” Gasmena said. “We actually hired a contractor to come by and give us a quote on renovations that we may be doing.”

But the issues at the facility seem to go deeper than the conditions AHCA has highlighted after recent inspections. A News-Journal investigation into the facility’s history found that from January 1, 2016 until Aug. 15, 2019 there were 108 calls to police about assaults, suspicious activity, civil complaints and disturbances at Rastelle Manor.

Since 2016, 22 incident reports have been filed about the facility with the Daytona Beach Police Department. The complaints included missing residents, residents beating each other, residents throwing chairs through windows, residents threatening employees, suicide attempts, Baker Acts due to suicidal or threatening behavior, death and former residents trespassing on the property.

Three arrest warrants were issued against residents in the same time period for domestic violence charges and failing to appear in court. Many of the residents listed in the incident reports and arrest warrants have been arrested in Volusia County multiple times.

Lee said while it’s good for police to intervene in possibly dangerous situations, the amount of calls made in the almost four-year time period at Rastelle Manor is disturbing.

“It’s frightening to think there’s a regular presence of law enforcement at a facility because of significant criminal issues occurring,” Lee said. “We don’t want to see that. We want to make sure the residents are safe.”

There are currently 23 residents at Rastelle Manor, which determines a monthly payment based on income and is receives Medicaid reimbursement. The lowest monthly payment is $775 a month, according to the Bernabe’s.

“It wasn’t my plan to have to give it up,” Cheryl Bernabe said last week.

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Troubled Rastelle Manor assisted living facility in Daytona Beach will change ownership