Embattled Southwestern Ontario retirement home sold: Realtor
A Southwestern Ontario retirement home that closed as its former manager was charged following a $200,000 fraud investigation has new ownership.
A listing posted to Facebook by realtor Marius Kerkhoff, days after Trillium Care Communities Norwich closed its doors to residents on Nov. 11, indicated the 20-bed retirement home was under contract. In a latter post, Kerkhoff said the retirement home at 25 Main St. E. in Norwich – a small community south of Woodstock – had been sold.
'The old age home in Norwich is sold. All the best to the wonderful new owners who will make the Trillium great again,' Kerkhoff posted.
The listing, which now designates the property as sold on the Ask Marius real estate website, lists the property for $1.5 million.
It is not the first time the property has been listed.
Kerkhoff had posted the roughly 930-square-metre Trillium Christian retirement home property as a new listing on April 1, 2019, citing it as a turn-key business that had undergone 'substantial upgrades' during the previous five years 'including meeting all government regulations, new elevator, flooring and much more.'
In October 2020, Kerkhoff twice posted to Facebook the 25 Main St. home was on the market.
Renamed Trillium Care Communities Norwich, it landed in the spotlight after Ontario Provincial Police announced in August 2024 it had launched an investigation when police were alerted to a series of frauds connected to the retirement home.
Months later, Trillium informed the home's 18 residents it would be shutting its doors in two weeks, citing 'an emergency lack of financial resources necessary to sustain daily operations.' The announcement sent the home's elderly residents and their families scrambling to seek alternative living arrangements by the Nov. 11 closing date.
In February, OPP announced a Tillsonburg resident is charged with fraud of more than $5,000 as a result of an investigation that determined 26 people linked to a retirement home in Norwich had lost more than $190,000, although they didn't name the individual charged.
Court records identify the accused as former operations manager Julie Vitias, 50.
Vitias also is facing a lawsuit from her former employer, alleging some of the nearly $200,000 misappropriated from the home had been used for gambling and alcohol.
An Ontario numbered company linked to Trillium Care Communities – the Toronto-based operator of retirement homes in Ontario – has launched an $820,000 lawsuit against Vitias.
Vitias is alleged to have used 'deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means' to defraud residents of Trillium Care Communities out of $196,665 'by electronic transfer' between Feb. 16, 2023, and Aug. 21, 2024, court documents say.
Statements of claim and defence include allegations not yet tested in court.
bwilliams@postmedia.com
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