Arlington care home operator pleads guilty after client deaths, court filing shows

The Arlington businesswoman who operated an illegal home-based healthcare company and was under investigation after at least 20 clients of hers died, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison for multiple crimes, according to officials.

Arlington police investigated Regla "Su" Becquer for months and her unlicensed company, "Love & Caring for People LLC," which operated community living homes. 

Authorities learned that her company, which claimed to provide supervised personal care for adults in need throughout five homes in Tarrant County, was actually abusing and neglecting clients and committing fraud.

Police found at least 20 clients of hers who died since September 2022 and said there could be more. Most of the victims were cremated or buried, and only two had autopsies. One of those autopsies revealed that 60-year-old Steven "Kelly" Pankratz died from mixed drug toxicity while under Becquer's care. 

In addition to the deaths, investigators found evidence of Becquer taking possession of clients' phones, cars and even houses.  

The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office said Becquer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for financial abuse of the elderly, 10 years in prison for abandoning or endangering an individual, and 2 years in state jail for criminally negligent homicide. 

"These sentences will end Becquer's infamous business scheme and bring justice for victims who went unknown for so long," said Anna Tinsley Williams, with the Tarrant County DA's Office.

The DA's office did not say whether the sentences would run concurrently.