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SACRAMENTO — The state has taken over the management of three nursing homes where investigators found evidence of patient neglect, health officials announced Thursday. 

The three include the Lodi Health Care Center in San Joaquin County and the Crescent Care Center of Yucca Valley and Crescent Alzheimer’s Care Center, both in San Bernardino County. 

The TLC Health Care Inc. homes are also the subject of the state’s first-ever civil enforcement action for poor patient care, according to Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s office. 

The civil action seeks $2 million in civil penalties and restitution of at least $50,000 to the Medi-Cal program. Criminal action could be pursued after more investigation, Lockyer spokeswoman Sandra Michioku said. 

A state law that took effect in January empowers the Department of Health Services to more quickly take over management of nursing homes that fall short of state quality-of-care standards. 

The attorney general’s complaint against TLC, filed in Riverside County Superior Court, alleges violations in 37 different categories of state and federal law. 

Investigators said they found residents at the three homes suffering from severe bed sores, dehydration, malnutrition, poor hygiene and injuries from falls that required surgery. 

Owner Rocky Lemon abandoned the California facilities, stopped paying bills and cannot be located, said Lea Brooks, a Department of Health Services spokeswoman. 

Oklahoma and Texas have taken similar actions against several TLC nursing homes in those states. Several other states are also pursuing investigations against nursing homes owned by Lemon. 

Lemon did not immediately respond to messages left at his Pacific Palisades house and cellular phone Thursday by The Associated Press seeking comment. 

TLC Health Care Inc. is based in Oklahoma, DHS officials said. There was no phone number listed. 

Tim DeGusti, an Oklahoma attorney who has represented TLC Health Care, said he was unaware of the California allegations and did not know how to reach Lemon. 

In a written statement to an Oklahoma newspaper, Lemon denied running shoddy facilities in Texas and Oklahoma. He said the homes didn’t have enough money to operate but he denied that patients were treated poorly. 

California health officials began monitoring the three facilities after receiving complaints that food and supplies were running low and paychecks had bounced, Brooks said. 

“We literally had bills not being paid. The staff really stayed because they care about the patients,” Brooks said. 

The civil action also accuses Lemon of poor patient care at Crescent Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Indio in Riverside County, which has been sold to another company and has made improvements. 

The Ensign Group, based in San Juan Capistrano, will manage the three nursing homes until a new owner can be found, Brooks said. The company manages 19 nursing homes in four states, including two in California. 

The new state law requires targeted nursing homes to pay for the managers. 

Darren Burgess, Oklahoma Health Department assistant deputy commissioner for protective health services, said authorities there also have uncovered incidents of nursing staff walking off the job, of payroll checks bouncing and of phone service being turned off. 

“Had not new management stepped in, we would have considered temporary managers or even closure,” Burgess said. “We are aggressively monitoring the former Rocky Lemon homes, and we’ll do everything in our power to see that there is little or no impact on patient care.” 

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On the Net: 

DHS: http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov