Arlington police are investigating a string of unlicensed community living homes owned by a woman currently in the Tarrant County Jail.
Regla “Su” Becquer, 49, owns the company Love and Caring for People LLC and oversaw at least five properties in Arlington, Mansfield, and Grand Prairie, according to police. Becquer was arrested last month on one count of Abandoning and Endangering an Individual, Imminent Danger of Bodily Injury. She is currently held at the Tarrant County Jail on a $750,000 bond.
She could face additional charges pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
KERA News reached out to Becquer’s attorney but did not receive an immediate response.
Love and Caring for People LLC allegedly served adults who required daily supervised personal care. Investigators say Becquer and her staff did not properly care for their clients, prevented them from seeking medical attention, attempted to cut off communication between clients and their families and made purchases on clients’ debit cards without consent. Becquer and her staff were also accused of taking deceased clients’ property, such as phones and vehicles.
Love and Caring for People LLC is not listed with the Better Business Bureau, but even if it had been, Sriram Villupuram — finance and real estate professor at The University of Texas at Arlington — said that isn't enough to guarantee a business' trustworthiness.
Part of the issue is due to Texas’ laissez-faire attitude toward regulating businesses, he said.
“In the absence of the state regulating any of these guys, anyone can show up and say, ‘I am, you know, I can do this, I can do that’,” Villupuram said. “They're basically leaving that due diligence process to the users, to the people that are needing these services.”
Even businesses registered with the Better Business Bureau can change their company name if they get a bad rap with the bureau.
Villupuram said how cheap a service is offered compared to competitors could be a red flag on its quality or reliability.
“But unfortunately, given that prices are increasing so much in a lot of places folks are, suddenly the moment they see something that looks like a good value, they jump on it without doing the due diligence,” he said.
That’s where references come in handy. Villupuram said checking a company’s references and getting referrals from trusted people, especially when it comes to health care, is important.
“Genuine businesses get mixed up with bad apples, and they spend time and money to signal to others that, ‘hey, we're legit, we're doing good work, these are our references’,” he said. “That's why people have become increasingly reliant on things like Angie's List, and there's a whole slew of companies that have sprung up to fill the information gap.”
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said in a statement that multiple cities in the county could be affected by the investigation.
“We join the Arlington Police Department in requesting the public’s assistance so that we ensure we are thoroughly assisting any and all of those affected by the suspected wrongdoing of Regla Becquer,” Sorrells said.
Investigators say they're working to determine if there are additional victims or community living homes they do not know about. Any current or past clients or family members can leave a voicemail message at (817)575-3230 so an officer can follow up with them.
In a statement, Arlington Chief of Police Al Jones said investigators have already pulled multiple people from the homes so they can receive legitimate care.
“We’ve learned about some very concerning things occurring within these homes and we want to ensure that no victims are falling through the cracks,” Jones said. “If you or a loved one has spent any time in one of these homes — or knows of any other locations this company may be operating out of — we need to know.”
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