Regla “Su” Becquer, the operator behind a web of unlicensed Tarrant County boarding homes tied to 20 client deaths, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide. The sentence closes out a case that began with a resident’s plea for help and comes amid broader efforts to regulate care for vulnerable adults in Texas.
Becquer pleaded guilty following a months-long investigation that spanned multiple jurisdictions, according to WFAA. She operated Love & Caring for People LLC, an unlicensed company that claimed to provide supervised personal care for adults in need at five homes across the county, according to court documents cited by CBS Texas. Authorities determined the company had abused and neglected clients while also committing fraud, the outlet reported.
The case first broke open in February 2024, when Becquer was arrested and charged with abandoning and endangering a resident. Arlington police found the resident inside the Woodbrook Street home after the resident pleaded for help and a neighbor called 911.
A Death Upgrades the Case to Murder
Four months later, in June 2024, Arlington police upgraded the charges against Becquer to murder. The move came after the Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled that the January 12, 2024 death of 60-year-old Steven “Kelly” Pankratz was a homicide, caused by mixed toxicity from unprescribed painkillers and antidepressants, according to the City of Arlington. Pankratz had been living at Becquer's Lake Whitney Drive facility when first responders found him unresponsive, the city said.
Arlington police identified at least 20 clients who had died while under Becquer's care since September 2022, and said there could be more deaths still unaccounted for, per CBS Texas. Investigating most of those deaths proved nearly impossible: the Arlington report explains that the vast majority occurred months before law enforcement was ever notified, by which point bodies had already been cremated, buried, or donated to science. Only two residents received formal autopsies, and prosecutors pursued a homicide-related charge tied to one death.
Five Homes, No Signage, One Sprawling Operation
Love & Caring for People LLC ran at least five residential addresses across Tarrant County, according to the earlier reporting of WFAA — homes in Arlington on Woodbrook Street, Lake Whitney Drive, and Fossil Creek Drive, plus locations in Mansfield on Turtle Cove Drive and in Grand Prairie on Hidden Brook Drive. The Woodbrook Street home was in a quiet suburban neighborhood, the station reported.
Investigators also found evidence that Becquer took possession of clients' phones, cars, and houses, according to CBS Texas. Court filings and police affidavits described extensive financial fraud, including a handwritten will naming Becquer as beneficiary of an estate valued at $331,000; the will's authenticity was under investigation, per the same WFAA account. Investigators also reported allegedly fraudulent debit-card and EBT use, as well as vehicles registered to former residents.
Arlington Case Pushed Lawmakers Toward Criminal Penalties
The scandal didn't stay contained to Tarrant County courtrooms. Texas Representative Chris Turner, a Democrat representing Arlington, filed House Bill 2510 to criminalize operating an unlicensed assisted living facility, proposing Class A misdemeanor penalties for first-time offenders and up to 10 years in prison for repeat violators, according to WFAA’s investigative team. Previous Texas statutes carried no criminal penalties at all for running an unlicensed care facility, the outlet noted.
Lawmakers also proposed new rules for placement agents, the station reported. The reporting also described hospital referrals to unlicensed homes.
WFAA reported that Texas requires homes with more than three residents who receive help with daily needs to be licensed as assisted living facilities. Unlicensed operators often try to dodge that threshold by keeping resident counts at or just under the statutory limit. State health regulators identified nearly 300 facilities operating as unlicensed assisted living homes across Texas between 2021 and 2023, underscoring how widespread the problem extends beyond Becquer's operation alone.
Hoodline first reported on Becquer's arrest in March 2024, when the Arlington Police Department was just beginning to unravel the scope of Love & Caring for People's operations. Tuesday's sentencing marks the formal end of the criminal case, though broader legislative efforts in Austin remain in motion.
