MANATEE — State regulators want to rescind the licenses of two northwest Bradenton group homes for developmentally disabled adults because of incidents that include a resident’s death and another’s near-fatal alcohol poisoning at related facilities, state records show.

But Excelsior Care Inc., the for-profit operator of both homes, is fighting the state’s efforts. The company also is contesting regulators’ demands that it repay $430,000 in Medicaid reimbursements that state auditors claim were excessive and not supported by documentation, records show.

Ethelene Moore, Excelsior’s president since it was incorporated in 2003, did not return a message left Monday at an assisted-living facility she also operates. Patricia Kent, listed as the company’s attorney in its administrative appeals, said she no longer represents Excelsior, whose corporate officers include Jeremiah Guccione, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the State House 67 seat earlier this year.

In a pair of Aug. 30 letters to the company, the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities said it would not renew Excelsior’s licenses to operate the homes at 1308 89th St. N.W. and 8403 17th Ave. N.W.

The state agency said it based its decision on several incidents at the group homes, as well as a third group home at 323 49th St. N.W. and Northwest Care Centre, an affiliated assisted living facility at 802 71st St. N.W. also run by Moore.

Those episodes, which regulators discovered through site visits, complaints and calls to an abuse hotline, include:

-- Failing to follow a state recommendation to find other quarters for a Northwest Care resident who frequently assaulted his or her roommate, resulting in black eyes, bruises and a broken leg. The roommate later was found dead in bed, and the other resident told state regulators investigating the death that he or she “didn’t want a roommate anymore,” according to an administrative complaint. The identity of the residents was not disclosed.

-- Failing to prevent a Northwest Care resident with a known history of drinking potentially harmful liquids from doing it twice: first a bottle of floor cleaner and later a 1.75-liter bottle of mouthwash containing 26.9 percent alcohol. The resident was hospitalized after the mouthwash incident with a blood-alcohol level of 0.42 percent — more than five times the legal limit. The resident’s mother later filed a negligence lawsuit against the facility but later reached a confidential settlement, court records show.

-- Hiring an undocumented worker who was a relative of Moore and hiding the worker from state regulators for two months. The worker provided care to residents at the 89th Street group home without undergoing a background check.

-- Inadequately supervising group home residents, including three who were left alone at a community basketball game; one who was left in a hot, locked car and unable to get out while a staff member went shopping; and another who was found wandering in the street at 3:30 a.m. after a staff member had fallen asleep.

-- Locking a Northwest Care resident alone in his room for two hours despite his reported screams to be freed. Investigators said the facility had previously used this type of discipline in violation of state law and had reversed the resident’s door handle so it could be locked from the hallway.

In the Northwest Care incidents, which occurred between September 2008 to April 2009, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration initially proposed revoking the facility’s license and assessing $37,000 in fines. The facility appealed, and later reached a November 2009 settlement in which it kept its license and agreed to pay a $12,000 fine, records show.

Excelsior now is appealing the proposed loss of its group home licenses by requesting an administrative hearing. It said in its petition that it was disputing “all alleged material facts” that regulators presented.

The request prompted the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to grant the company a 90-day reprieve, spokeswoman Melanie Etters said.

Excelsior also is fighting state demands that it repay $430,470 in Medicaid funds as “unwarranted, unauthorized, arbitrary and capricious, and excessive,” according to its petition for an administrative hearing.

State auditors said the company was not entitled to the money, which was paid out in 2006 and 2007, and should repay it plus pay a $2,500 fine because it failed to comply with Medicaid requirements. A Dec. 1-2 administrative hearing in Tallahassee is scheduled, according to the case docket.

Duane Marsteller, Herald investigative/database reporter, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2630.