GOLDEN, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has opened an investigation into Arvada-based Lark Home Care, a company that allegedly paid a man and his girlfriend who have since been arrested on charges related to the death of the man’s mother.
Brian Seitz, 36, and his girlfriend, Laura Prats, 53, are expected to be charged with crimes against an at-risk adult resulting in death after first responders found Seitz’s mother Sheryl, 58, on an air mattress in the garage of an Airbnb in Arvada this week with maggots covering her body. Medical professionals who evaluated Seitz at the hospital before her death learned she had multiple hip fractures, a partially dislocated wrist and had sepsis, according to an affidavit from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The affidavit says Brian Seitz and Prats were paid state funds for providing Seitz’s mother with 83 hours of care per week through a company called Lark Home Care, a licensed Medicaid home care agency in Arvada.
In an interview with 9NEWS from the Jefferson County Jail on Friday, Seitz told 9NEWS he and Prats were each paid about $2,200 per month for providing the care. He said an additional $4,400 in his mother’s Medicaid funding went to Lark Home Care. 9NEWS visited Lark Home Care’s office on Thursday and Friday asking to speak with the company’s owner, but she has yet to respond to a request for comment.
In a statement Friday, CDPHE confirmed the investigation to 9NEWS, but said it is still underway.
“Family members employed by a licensed and/or Medicaid-certified facility can provide care to relatives. Each agency is required to train and supervise employees to ensure they are delivering appropriate client care and services,” CDPHE spokesperson Gabi Johnston wrote in an email to 9NEWS.
Seitz told 9NEWS he and Prats helped his mother, who was blind and immobile, with everyday tasks.
“For a while there we repositioned her, we cleaned her up, were transferring her onto a commode where she would use the restroom,” Seitz said during the jailhouse interview. “We did a lot of things - feed her.”
But investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office questioned the care Seitz was getting. According to an affidavit, she was living in an RV on an RV storage lot without running water.
“I did reach out for help,” Seitz said. “This is what happened when we reach out for help — she went to the hospital, they wouldn't admit her at the hospital. She couldn't get sent to rehab because they said she had a degenerative disease. What else am I supposed to do then?”
Seitz said he took her to the Airbnb to clean her up.
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