SPRINGFIELD, MO. ? The owner of a Missouri group home where 11 people died in a fire was arrested Monday on a federal Medicaid fraud charge.

Prosecutors accuse Robert DuPont, 62, of operating residential care facilities despite a felony conviction that barred him from running homes that receive Medicaid.

DuPont and his wife, LaVerne, owned five residential care facilities in southwest Missouri, including the Anderson Guest House for the mentally ill and handicapped. The home burned down in November in a fire that state investigators blamed on attic wiring.

Robert DuPont was being held without bail until a court hearing Wednesday. His wife, reached at home in Joplin, said she could not comment on the arrest or fraud charge because she has not seen the complaint and has not hired a lawyer.

The homes were run by Joplin River of Life Ministries Inc., where LaVerne DuPont was executive director. Robert DuPont has said he worked at the homes and gave advice but was not in charge.

The federal complaint alleges that DuPont exercised “operation and control” of Joplin River of Life Ministries.