BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Maryland authorities have received 17 referrals involving suspected unlicensed assisted living operations and have brought two enforcement cases, including the state’s first felony indictment under a strengthened law intended to protect vulnerable seniors.
The cases mark a significant development a year after Spotlight on Maryland investigations exposed an underground network of suspected unlicensed assisted living homes, allegations of neglect and exploitation, and repeated warnings that state regulators were failing to protect elderly and disabled residents.
Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office secured its first felony indictment Monday against a registered nonprofit owner under Maryland’s strengthened unlicensed assisted living facility law, which he lobbied for in 2023. The office also raided a Baltimore City location in April, securing an emergency injunction to prevent unlicensed operations.
2111 Garrison Blvd in Baltimore City, the former location of Daquan Thomas’s nonprofit Aim to Inspire Care Forever Limited, is vacant and condemned as of Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, after a fire at the property in late March. Thomas faces a felony indictment for allegedly operating an unlicensed assisted living program. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
A Maryland grand jury indicted Daquan Dwight Thomas, 39, of Owings Mills, on Monday, accusing him of “knowingly and willfully” operating, maintaining, or owning “an assisted living program without a license” in the 3500 block of Reisterstown Road in Baltimore City.
Earlier in the year, Brown’s office filed a civil complaint seeking an injunction against Natae Alleyne, owner of Treasure of Life Assisted Livings, after prosecutors and state officials jointly found 13 at-risk seniors inside an unlicensed assisted living home in the 3400 block of Forest Park Avenue in Baltimore City.
When Spotlight on Maryland first reported last November on senior trafficking and the underground network of unlicensed assisted living providers statewide, the attorney general’s office said it had received only a single referral from the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ), the regulatory arm of the Maryland Department of Health.
Last week, Spotlight on Maryland learned from the attorney general’s office that it received 17 referrals, with one now leading to a criminal indictment and another to a civil case.
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Maryland Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm serving low-income residents, warned lawmakers in March 2023 that state protections for seniors and disabled adults were dangerously inadequate.
“It’s no secret that unlicensed ALFs engage in human and/or benefits trafficking, using coercion, deception, threats, or other means to traffic victims, moving them from one facility to another for the additional purpose of appropriating their benefits, such as Social Security Retirement, Food Stamps (SNAP), or other benefits,” the law firm said in its 2023 written testimony to the Maryland General Assembly.
After nearly 500 hours of fieldwork, reviewing government records and lawsuits, and even out-of-state trips that took Spotlight on Maryland as far as South Carolina last fall, a system was revealed that appeared to be operating outside the law.
Boxes bearing the shipping label ‘Treasure of Life Assisted Living’ were stacked outside a home in the 5500 block of Hilltop Avenue in Baltimore on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. Natae Alleyne, the owner of the organization, has come under scrutiny by the Maryland Attorney General’s office for operating both licensed and unlicensed assisted living programs. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
Sara Westrick, AARP Maryland’s advocacy director, told Spotlight on Maryland on Monday that she is thrilled to see the state move on unlicensed facilities, but added that much more is still needed.
“It’s challenging,” Westrick said. “It’s very challenging.”
As part of the 17 new referrals to the attorney general’s office, a spokesperson for the agency said it has received referrals from private citizens, Adult Protective Services, fire officials, and state health regulators.
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A single court filing in April sought an injunction against Natae Alleyne, identified in court records as the operator of Treasure of Life Assisted Living Facilities. Those records claim that Alleyne operates both licensed and unlicensed assisted living locations and had been known to state regulators for some time.
Alleyne also appeared on an internal government list, obtained by Spotlight on Maryland last year, of more than 115 suspected unlicensed assisted living locations. The Baltimore City resident’s operations accounted for five of the listings on the internal government document.
No criminal charges were filed against her in connection with the case.
The Maryland Attorney General’s office said in a lawsuit against Natae Alleyne that seniors in the 3400 block of W. Forest Park Avenue were removed during a raid. Court records say the location was operating without an assisted living facility license. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
In April, authorities entered one of Alleyne’s unlicensed homes in the 3400 block of Forest Park Avenue in Baltimore, where they found 13 seniors, according to court records.
Complaints detailed overcrowding, insufficient food, limited-to-no access to telephones, urine in the home, and unrelated men and women sharing bedrooms.
The attorney general’s office wrote in the court filings that some residents were immobile while others had dementia. Most needed medication.
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Court records also allege Alleyne collected residents’ Social Security benefits to pay for their stay.
Regulators received at least five complaints about Alleyne’s unlicensed operations, according to records Spotlight on Maryland reviewed.
Licensed facilities are subject to state oversight by the Maryland Office of Healthcare Quality. This includes inspections and care standards intended to protect residents who need help with everyday activities.
Unlicensed operations often evade those safeguards.
The Maryland Department of Health is headquartered at 201 W. Preston St. in Baltimore. (Zackary Lang / Spotlight on Maryland)
A 2023 Maryland law makes knowingly and willfully operating an unlicensed assisted living program a felony, punishable on a first offense with up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.
The law also permits authorities to seek an injunction to stop an unlicensed operation.
A civil filing is not a criminal conviction.
Spotlight on Maryland visited several addresses associated with Alleyne on Friday to seek answers.
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At one, deliveries bearing the Treasure of Life name sat outside. A security camera appeared disconnected, and no one answered the door.
Some locations associated with Alleyne also remained listed as licensed on the state’s website, even as other operations linked to her faced enforcement concerns.
Outside an address in the 5500 block of Hilltop Avenue, Alleyne returned Spotlight on Maryland’s repeated phone calls. She said the attorney general’s action “blindsided” her, and Alleyne confirmed she continues to operate assisted living homes.
Then came another disclosure by Alleyne.
At a home in the 5500 block of Hilltop Avenue in Baltimore, Natae Alleyne says her assisted living program remains operational despite a state lawsuit over other allegedly unlicensed facilities. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
She said her unlicensed facility had accepted residents from Aim to Inspire Care Forever, a separate unlicensed operation Spotlight on Maryland investigated last year.
Aim to Inspire is the same federally registered nonprofit entity owned and operated by Thomas, who the attorney general’s office brought felony charges against on Monday. In an exclusive interview with Spotlight on Maryland last October, Thomas said he sought nonprofit status to receive “donations” from hospital systems for accepting overflow patients who needed a place to go after discharge.
I thought, ‘Hey, let me try to incorporate the nonprofit version of what my path is,’” Thomas said. “I thought that that would open up opportunities for grant funding, federal funding, and more fundraising for individuals dealing with homelessness.”
Thomas has not responded to multiple requests for comment via email and text message on Monday and Tuesday. Court records do not currently list an attorney for his pending felony case.
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Meanwhile, Alleyne also claimed state officials contacted her to house seniors displaced by a fire at Aim to Inspire in March, despite prior complaints about her facilities.
The Maryland Department of Health has not directly responded to questions about Alleyne’s claim.
Asked how residents reach unlicensed homes and whether state agencies or hospitals are involved, Alleyne declined to explain the referral network.
“I rather not disclose certain things,” Alleyne said. “All I received was the state abandoned clients in a hotel for weeks.”
Spotlight on Maryland previously reported that Aim to Inspire housed more than 40 at-risk seniors without an assisted living license.
State regulators ultimately moved to shut it down in late January and sent an official notice to its operator in early February.
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Soon after the move, Spotlight on Maryland pressed Office of Health Care Quality Director Tia Witherspoon about why action took approximately 60 days despite allegations of neglect and abuse known to her agency.
Witherspoon referred further questions to the Maryland Department of Health’s communications staff.
We look forward to working with our colleagues down here at the State House with the issues we have at unlicensed facilities,” Witherspoon said in February.
Questions remain about how the process of senior trafficking unfolds.
Spotlight on Maryland’s investigative journalist Gary Collins knocks on multiple doors on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in an attempt to locate Natae Alleyne, owner of Treasure of Life ALF, an organization accused by the Maryland Attorney General of operating both licensed and unlicensed assisted living facilities. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
Anna Thomas, executive director of the National Center for State and Tribal Elder Justice Coalitions, who spoke out about the system in December, said operators know one another and “trade these individuals on the basis how you would trade baseball cards.”
In January, after Spotlight on Maryland asked when Gov. Wes Moore became aware of unlicensed homes, spokesman David Turner acknowledged the reporting had elevated the issue, calling it important.
“I think that is something that has been sub-below the radar,” Turner said. “[F]rankly, to be honest, your reporting has elevated it and I think it’s an important issue.”
The Department of Health declined interview requests for this report and asked for emailed questions instead.
Have you experienced or have direct knowledge about unlicensed assisted living facilities operating in Maryland? Do you have a tip related to this story? Send news tips to gmcollins@sbgtv.com or contact Spotlight on Maryland’s hotline at (410) 467-4670.
Follow Gary Collins on X and Instagram. Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun.
This post was originally published on Fox 45 by Sinclair Media Group.
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