{"id":10942,"date":"2026-07-06T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10942"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:00:56","slug":"romanian-prosecutors-freeze-eur-6-4-mln-in-illegal-care-home-network-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10942","title":{"rendered":"Romanian prosecutors freeze EUR 6.4 mln in illegal care home network case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors handling the criminal case targeting the illegal care home network operated by Viorel Pa\u0219ca<\/strong> and his \u201cDumbrava \u2013 God Takes Care\u201d association have placed seizures on the suspects\u2019 movable and immovable assets to cover the enormous moral damages claimed by victims.<\/p>\n

The seizures in Bihor County, western Romania, are meant to prevent the alienation of assets by the defendants, which would result in a state of insolvency that would make compensation of victims impossible at the end of the trial. In the reasoning of the decision, judicial authorities pointed to the proportional nature of the measure in relation to the protection of the fundamental rights of the injured persons.<\/p>\n

The case of the illegal care homes broke last week<\/a>, uncovering similarities with another, more serious case from 2023<\/a>. Unlike the latter, however, the situation of the care homes in Bihor is not as clear, leading many to argue that Viorel Pa\u0219ca and his association were doing their best with the available resources, taking care of patients who had been abandoned by state institutions.<\/p>\n

On the other side, prosecutors say that the network exploited vulnerable people, targeting those without families to benefit from their income. According to DIICOT<\/a>, over 2,200 vulnerable persons passed through centers controlled by the group in the last 6 years. Around 401 died, and another 413 were found during the searches. Around 200 of those found had disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injured persons, brought from multiple hospital units and social assistance directorates in several counties, were placed in buildings located in the areas of Holod, Ceica, Tinca, and L\u0103z\u0103reni communes, under the appearance of providing specialized care services, treatment, and social assistance by the group leader,\u201d DIICOT stated.<\/p>\n

Viorel Pa\u0219ca did not have any legal right to provide such services, according to the prosecutors.<\/p>\n

EUR 48,500 every month<\/h4>\n

On Thursday, July 2, a Bucharest court placed Viorel Pa\u0219ca, his wife, and their three sons under judicial control pending further investigations<\/a>. Judicial control was also ordered for the person who managed branches and community organizations within the association, although the decision is not final. DIICOT prosecutors had requested preventive arrest for 30 days for all the suspects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to G4Media<\/a>, 74 of the more than 400 people under Viorel Pa\u0219ca\u2019s care had disability benefits. Roughly 30 people under Pa\u0219ca\u2019s care also received another disability allowance, which replaced the payment for a personal assistant. This means that Pa\u0219ca\u2019s association secured RON 253,600 (EUR 48,500) every month by hosting them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Viorel Pa\u0219ca had said the same on Thursday, July 2, after leaving the Tribunal. \u201cOut of 400 people, only 100 had any income. How could I have gotten rich?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pro-Pa\u0219ca protest<\/h4>\n

On Sunday, July 5, around 2,500 supporters of Viorel Pa\u0219ca filled Unirii Square in Oradea, the capital of Bihor County. Numerous came with EU and Romanian flags and banners, demanding that the activity at Dumbrava not be \u201cpunished\u201d and accusing the authorities of abuse.<\/p>\n

People with various disabilities also participated, including wheelchair users, as well as people from outside the county. Most of those present were members of neo-Protestant churches, according to local news outlet eBihoreanul<\/a>, and were led by a pastor.<\/p>\n

One of the posters read \u201cThe state sent the sick to Dumbrava! And the same state accuses him!\u201d referring to one of the lines of defense invoked by Pa\u0219ca\u2019s supporters, according to which his activity filled a gap left by public institutions in the care of vulnerable people.<\/p>\n

R\u0103zvan Doseanu, Viorel Pa\u0219ca\u2019s attorney, attended the protest and addressed those gathered. He avoided going into the details of the case, stating that these would be discussed before prosecutors and judges. Instead, he said that\u00a0Pa\u0219ca and his family retained their dignity throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Viorel Pa\u0219ca and his family were not present at the protest. At the end, Pa\u0219ca sent a message of thanks to his supporters on Facebook. The event ended with prayers.<\/p>\n

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

(Photo source: Inquam Photos\/George Calin)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors handling the criminal case targeting the illegal care home network operated by Viorel Pa\u0219ca and his \u201cDumbrava \u2013 God Takes Care\u201d association have placed seizures on the suspects\u2019 movable and immovable assets to cover the enormous moral damages claimed by victims. The seizures in Bihor County, western Romania, are meant to prevent the alienation […]<\/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-10942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10942","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=10942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}