92-Year-Old Beaten to Death Hours After Facility Moved Violent Felon into His Room Without Notice to the Family

NATION'S FASTEST-GROWING NURSING HOME CHAIN FACES LAWSUIT AFTER PREVENTABLE VIOLENT ATTACK ON RESIDENT
Family Alleges PACS Group Put Revenue Growth Over Resident Safety, Ignored Warning Signs
BANNING, CA - [12/29/2025] - The family of a California nursing home resident who was violently attacked inside Sunrise Post Acute, a facility owned and operated by PACS Group, has filed a lawsuit alleging systemic corporate failures that made the assault predictable-and preventable. PACS Group, headquartered in Utah and now one of the fastest-growing post-acute operators in the United States, is accused of prioritizing expansion and profitability over basic resident protections.
A Preventable Tragedy
The elder abuse lawsuit alleges that the company admitted and housed a resident with a known criminal history of attempted murder and rape without performing required assessments, without drafting a safety plan, without providing enhanced supervision, and without placing him in a one-person room.
Instead, the facility repeatedly moved the aggressive resident from room to room, ultimately placing him with Mr. Cecchetto, a 92-year-old man with dementia. He attacked Mr. Cecchetto in his sleep, beating him so severely that when staff found him, they described his room as a "blood bath." Staff later reported the assailant should never have been paired with Mr. Cecchetto, who was known to be noisy and call out due to his dementia. The attack left the Mr. Cecchetto with catastrophic injuries and he died 2 days later.
"This wasn't an unfortunate accident. PACS had the information, the warnings, and the responsibility to protect Mr. Cecchetto and the other residents, visitors and staff ," said the attorneys representing the family. "They put a vulnerable resident in harm's way because empty beds don't generate revenue. That choice had devastating consequences."
CDPH Findings
Internal documents and regulatory reports from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) show:
• Lack of required behavioral assessments
• No individualized safety plan
• Failure to monitor escalating aggression
• Failure to notify the victim's family of dangerous roommate changes
• Chronic staffing shortages and ignored policies
• Prior safety citations at other PACS facilities
The lawsuit calls the incident the result of "a broken corporate system" that rewards full occupancy and rapid acquisition and expansion of the nursing home enterprise, not safe resident care.
Call for Reform
The family is asking for PACS to commit to making enterprise-wide reforms to its admission procedures, its safety plans and its warnings to families and staff about housing a known, violent criminal.
"This isn't just about our loved one," the family said in a statement. "This was a corporate failure at every level. We're speaking out so no other family has to go through what we've gone through."
This horrific tragedy cannot happen again.

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Press Contact
Jody C. Moore
(805) 988-3661

CORPORATE PROFILE
PACS Group, Inc.
(Utah-based post-acute care operator)
Company Overview
PACS Group, Inc. is a publicly held post-acute care and skilled nursing facility operator headquartered in Farmington, Utah. (NYSE:PACS) Over a relatively short period, the company has become one of the fastest-growing nursing home operators in the United States, with facilities operating across multiple states, including California.
The company's business model emphasizes rapid acquisition, centralized corporate management, and high facility occupancy.
Headquarters & Corporate Presence
• Corporate Headquarters: Farmington, Utah
• Primary Operations: Skilled nursing facilities, post-acute rehabilitation, long-term care
• Geographic Reach: Multi-state, including extensive operations in California
• Corporate Structure: Centralized leadership with operational policies set at the corporate level

Decisions related to admissions practices, staffing models, and safety protocols are alleged to be driven by corporate-level policies rather than individual facility discretion.

Growth & Expansion
PACS Group has expanded aggressively over recent years through acquisitions and operational takeovers of skilled nursing facilities.
Public records and industry reporting reflect:
• Rapid expansion across state lines
• Increased facility count in a compressed timeframe
• A business strategy focused on maintaining full occupancy

The lawsuit alleges that growth has outpaced the development and enforcement of resident safety systems.

This release was published on openPR.