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MIDVALE — Police, fire and public health officials descended Wednesday on a care facility in Midvale where officials say 16 people were living in "deplorable" conditions.
Authorities were sent to 163 E. 7800 South to shutter the facility, as a sign could be seen taped to a door that indicated the building was closed by the Salt Lake County Health Department. At the scene, Dale Keller, bureau manager for the county health department's environmental health division, told KSL the building was for people in need of assisted living, noting the building had a number of deficiencies.
Keller said the Unified Fire Department wants to close the building due to "compelling" fire code and safety issues, while the county health department wants to close it because of sewage and other public health issues.
"It's grim," Keller said Wednesday. "The biggest issue for us is that there has been an off and on plumbing issue for backup of sewage."
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera told KSL that investigators began looking into the care facility after hearing complaints over months. She called the facility's conditions "deplorable," adding that investigators are working on potential criminal charges in connection with the care facility.
"It has sewage in there, it is deplorable for people, residents to be living in those conditions," Rivera said Wednesday. "My detectives recommended that I not even walk in there."
Nicholas Rupp, a spokesman for the county health department, said Wednesday that members of the health department were "called into this situation by law enforcement and are taking action to close the facility under our general sanitation regulation because of the imminent health hazards present."
Contributing: Jeffrey Dahdah
