Attorney General Mayes Announces Heritage Village Assisted Living Owners Barred From Operating Future Assisted Living Facilities and Fined $100,000
PHOENIX — Today the Attorney General announced that she has reached a settlement agreement to resolve the complaint filed by her office alleging elder abuse and consumer fraud by the owners and operators of the assisted living facility formerly known as Heritage Village Assisted Living. In a consent judgement filed this morning, the Attorney General asked the court to permanently bar Gary Langendoen, Tracy Langendoen, and any companies owned by the California real estate investors from providing health care services to vulnerable adults in Arizona. They will also pay $100,000 in civil penalties.
“Heritage Village was one of the most notorious assisted living facilities in Arizona, and I filed a lawsuit to make sure that the people responsible for the Heritage Village horror stories can never again put Arizona’s elderly at risk of serious injury or death,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Today’s settlement achieves that goal.”
The lawsuit against Heritage Village alleged multiple violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and the Adult Protective Services Act, which allows the Attorney General to sue to prevent the abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults. In addition to the lawsuit, Attorney General Mayes asked the court to place the Heritage Village facility into receivership, the first time an Attorney General has exercised that authority since the legislature added it to the Adult Protective Services Act in 1989.
When the court appointed Peter Davis to act as receiver in April 2024, the Heritage Village facility faced many serious problems. Numerous residents had suffered violence and sexual assault by other residents and staff. The entire facility was on the brink of permanent closure, facing revocation of its operating license and foreclosure by its mortgage lender. The Attorney General's lawsuit and subsequent receivership resulted in immediate improvements to resident care and prevented a complete closure of the facility, which would have left dozens of elderly residents and their families scrambling for new accommodations. Last year the court approved the sale of the facility to new owners focused on resident care.
“Although Heritage Village is gone forever, the facility itself is still going strong under new management,” said Attorney General Mayes. “My office has not received any consumer complaints about the former Heritage Village since the new owners took control.”
Under the terms of the consent judgment, the Langendoens and any of their companies may not apply for a license to provide health services in Arizona, and are permanently barred from having any ownership or management interest in any business providing care to vulnerable adults. The settling defendants collectively will pay $100,000 in civil penalties to the consumer protection revolving fund. The settling defendants will also cooperate with discovery requests from the parties still remaining in the lawsuit.
The Heritage Village settlement represents the latest resolution of a string of lawsuits filed by the Attorney General against assisted living facilities, including settlements that bar facilities from including secrecy clauses in their arbitration agreements, as well as a case stemming from the elopement of a resident who later died from heat exposure. Earlier this month, the Attorney General announced another significant settlement against the Brookhaven assisted living facility and its owners.
“This settlement closes the book on Heritage Village and the Langendoens, but we still have plenty of work ahead of us in this case and others,” said Attorney General Mayes. “I will pursue all facility operators and caregivers who refuse to comply with the laws and regulations that protect our most vulnerable citizens. If you have information about elder care facilities endangering residents, please contact my office so we can investigate.”
The lawsuit is State of Arizona v. Heritage Village Bldg2, LLC et. al., Maricopa County case number CV2024-005359. A copy of the consent judgment can be found here.