Ventura Villa Inc

With the backing of a freshman state assemblyman, police and neighbors have launched a campaign to close a Studio City home for mentally handicapped adults, claiming the facility draws prostitutes, drug dealers, vandals and other criminals. Ventura Villa Inc. already operates under a probationary license and was cited earlier this year for several violations of state codes before Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) demanded this week that the facility be shut down.

A group home for the mentally handicapped that had been under attack from neighbors and an assemblyman, was shut down early Thursday morning by the state Department of Social Services, which said the facility was chronically understaffed. An investigation of Ventura Villa Inc. was prompted by the April 1 death of a diabetic patient, 44-year-old Vicki Groman. Although the official cause has not yet been determined, DSS officials said the lack of proper staffing may have contributed to her death.

A group home for the mentally handicapped that had been under attack from neighbors and an assemblyman, was shut down early Thursday morning by the state Department of Social Services, which said the facility was chronically understaffed. An investigation of Ventura Villa Inc. was prompted by the April 1 death of a diabetic patient, 44-year-old Vicki Groman. Although the official cause has not yet been determined, DSS officials said the lack of proper staffing may have contributed to her death.

With the backing of a freshman state assemblyman, police and neighbors have launched a campaign to close a Studio City home for mentally handicapped adults, claiming the facility draws prostitutes, drug dealers, vandals and other criminals. Ventura Villa Inc. already operates under a probationary license and was cited earlier this year for several violations of state codes before Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) demanded this week that the facility be shut down.