Prosecutors allege this home on University Avenue Northeast in Minneapolis was used as a “commercial sex house” before it was converted to an assisted living facility managed by Homefelt Assisted Living. (KSTP)
Two assisted living facilities managed by a woman charged in an alleged sex trafficking conspiracy will be permanently shut down, the Minnesota Department of Health said Thursday.
Charging documents filed last week reveal multiple “commercial sex houses” in Minneapolis were repurposed as assisted living facilities managed by Homefelt Assisted Living. The company is owned by Andrea Sampson, a former Anoka County assistant attorney who is one of four defendants charged as part of a sex trafficking investigation involving at least 13 victims.
Sampson faces 26 total felony counts for allegations that she promoted and profited from prostitution.
MDH says Homefelt is now subject to an immediate temporary suspension and a revocation of its assisted living facility license.
“People residing in an assisted living facility in Minnesota deserve to receive the best possible care and have reassurance that facilities are being held to the highest standards for health and safety,” an MDH spokesperson told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in a statement. “In this instance, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has determined there are licensing violations that pose an imminent risk of harm to the health or safety of residents.”
A separate investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office found Sampson and others involved in the sex trafficking enterprise had also conspired to file false claims for Medicaid-based services and recruited sex trafficking victims to be employees or clients of Medicaid service providers.
Homefelt collected $1.2 million in Medicaid reimbursements from May 2023 through February 2026, though the company is not directly accused of fraudulent billing.
MDH said the adverse licensing actions toward Homefelt will allow the agency to transfer residents to new facilities and prevent Sampson from obtaining a license as a service provider for at least five years.
