By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO. – State regulators wanted to take the license from a southwest Missouri group home several months before it was destroyed in a fatal fire.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that state regulators recommended a license denial in January for the Anderson Guest House and two other facilities owned by the same company.
An internal health department e-mail says that Joplin River of Life Ministries failed to pay payroll taxes to the IRS.
Health officials now confirm they had concerns about the financial health
of the business.
But instead of denying a license, the health department issued a temporary operating permit to the facilities.
Those permits were extended several times before a November 27th fire killed ten people and injured two dozen at the Anderson Guest House.