Deadly Fire at Retirement Apartment House Leads to Manslaughter Charges
Five people have been charged in connection to a deadly 2008 retirement apartment house fire in Vallejo, California that killed three men after authorities determined that the fire alarm system at the facility was faulty.
The owners of Casa De Vallejo, Ruben Islas and Jules Arthur, were charged with two counts of elder abuse causing death, two counts of manslaughter, and one count of elder abuse in connection to the deaths of three men living at the facility. Three others are also facing charges in connection to the deaths: Martha Islas-Enriquez, CEO of Vallejo Housing Partners, Jeremy Turner, Director of Construction Management, and Michael Hagigeorgio, the project manager for the fire alarm installation at the facility. Currently, four of the five people have been taken into custody and are being held on $250,000 bail each.
The August 15, 2008 fire was determined to be accidental and started with a "careless and negligent act(s)", not limited to smoking near oxygen tanks". Fire investigators found that 68 year-old Robert Bennett, who lived in Room 606, either fell asleep, became intoxicated and lost consciousness, or suffered a incapacitating medical event and died. Bennett's room was the origin of the fire that displaced more than 100 residents and caused $6 million in damages at the seven story complex probably suffered 'a medical event' in Room 606. The coroner found that Bennett's blood alcohol level was 0.28, more than three times the legal limit. Seventy-four year-old John Argente and sixty-one year-old Harold Fortune also died in the fire.
Reportedly, the manual fire alarm system was being upgraded at the time of the fire to add strobe devices and a new fire alarm control panel.
