{"id":10879,"date":"2026-07-01T13:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10879"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:00:31","slug":"romanian-authorities-reportedly-detain-owner-of-illegal-care-homes-along-with-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10879","title":{"rendered":"Romanian authorities reportedly detain owner of illegal care homes along with family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romanian prosecutors reportedly detained Viorel Pa\u015fca, the man from Bihor County who allegedly exploited hundreds of vulnerable people under the cover of a humanitarian association, on Wednesday, July 1. Also detained were his wife, his three children, and Delia P\u0103cal\u0103, the coordinator of the illegal care homes, as part of the same case, according to G4Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pa\u015fca, 55, was at DIICOT\u2019s central headquarters for hearings after prosecutors officially confirmed his status as a suspect in the case.<\/p>\n

A day before, prosecutors and police officers carried out 27 searches at the homes of individuals<\/a> and at the headquarters of companies and a public institution in Bihor County. The searches targeted not only the homes of the Pa\u0219ca family members, but also the headquarters of the Holod Town Hall, an institution suspected of having facilitated or ignored the illegal activities of the group.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, the network was formally established in 2020, but Viorel Pa\u0219ca had been operating in the field for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Pa\u0219ca\u2019s network reportedly recruited, received, and housed hundreds of persons in a clearly vulnerable state, persons with mental disabilities, who could not defend themselves and could not express their will. Those who arrived in Pa\u0219ca\u2019s illegal care homes came from all corners of the country, allegedly sent by town halls, social assistance directorates, and hospitals.<\/p>\n

In total,\u00a0over 2,200 vulnerable persons passed through centers controlled by the group in the last 6 years. Around 401 died, and over 400 were found during the searches. Around 200 of those found had disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the same source, throughout the entire period, the victims were kept in a state of dependency and subjugation, without being provided the minimum conditions necessary to protect their health, dignity, and physical and mental integrity, as they did not receive constant and adequate care according to their medical condition and psychiatric diagnosis. Those who died were allegedly buried next to the cemetery without religious services to hide the mortality rate of the care homes, the prosecutors claimed.<\/p>\n

The same source said that Pa\u015fca, the leader of the network, obtained huge sums of money from donations, sponsorships, contributions, pensions, disability allowances, funeral aid, and other social benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other side, Viorel Pa\u015fca claimed his innocence and said that the situation of the houses in which he accommodated hundreds of elderly and sick people had been known for approximately 20 years by all Romanian state authorities.\u00a0Meanwhile, according to Euronews Romania<\/a>, several supporters gathered at the care home run by Pa\u0219ca in the town of Dumbrava on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

According to the defense lawyers, the accusations are that Pa\u015fca and his wife and children formed an organized criminal group that dealt in human trafficking. The family categorically rejected the charges and said that no action was taken to bring the unauthorized care homes into legal operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romanian authorities said that the 409 people found in the illegal care homes were safely relocated across Romania.<\/p>\n

Pa\u015fca came to the attention of authorities last summer, after an inspection by the Ministry of Labour, following which it was found that hundreds of disabled persons were improperly housed in his homes. The minister at the time, Florin Manole, considered the situation \u201cunacceptable\u201d and stated that it \u201cwill cease, and those who did wrong will be held accountable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Viorel Pa\u015fca does not have accreditation or a license for social service activities in the buildings where he accommodated these people, according to the Ministry of Labour. Simona Bucura-Oprescu, former minister of labour, Alexandru Rafila, former minister of health, and C\u0103t\u0103lin Predoiu, minister of internal affairs, also reportedly knew about the problems at the illegal care homes.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, June 30, after the story broke about the illegal care homes, interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan said he approved assistance to Romania\u2019s emergency services and the Ministry of Labor to relocate the people found in Pa\u015fca\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source: Diicot.ro)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romanian prosecutors reportedly detained Viorel Pa\u015fca, the man from Bihor County who allegedly exploited hundreds of vulnerable people under the cover of a humanitarian association, on Wednesday, July 1. Also detained were his wife, his three children, and Delia P\u0103cal\u0103, the coordinator of the illegal care homes, as part of the same case, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}