Questions Raised Over Ownership of Anderson Group Home That Burned

The investigation of the fire at the group home in Anderson yesterday has turned up a question of whether the Executive Director of the company that owned the home is holding his job legally. Robert Joseph Dupont is the head of the Joplin River of Life Ministries, which operated the Anderson Guest House. He was convicted three years ago of conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and given three yrars of supervised release. A spokesman for the State Health Department says state law forbids convicted felons from holding official positions with a long-term care facility. The State Health Department says the home had passed its most recent fire safety inspection. It had fire alarms but it was not required to have a sprinkler system because it was built before the law requiring them went into effect in 1980.