Brutal Abuse At Upscale Retirement Home (CA. USA)

Brutal abuse at Calabasas retirement home described in testimony

A former worker is on trial on charges of abuse and torture at the upscale facility. Witnesses say Cesar Ulloa jumped on residents, body-slammed one and encouraged two to fight.

By Robert Faturechi

March 31, 2010

As she made her rounds at an upscale Calabasas retirement home one morning, Adelina Campos said she walked into a room and caught a fellow caregiver in the act of abusing an elderly man suffering from dementia.

The worker was in midair, hurtling from atop a dresser toward the bed, landing both knees onto the man's belly.

"I was just in shock," Campos said.

The horrible tale and other accounts of abuse are unfolding this week in the trial of Cesar Ulloa, a low-level employee accused of severely mistreating residents, some of whom would have been too dementia-ridden to alert anyone to the alleged abuse.

Ulloa, 21, is charged with seven counts of elder abuse and one count of torture. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence. In addition to abusing the elderly man, prosecutors say, Ulloa jumped on a woman's chest and body-slammed her into a bed when she struggled. The 78-year-old woman was mute because of a brain condition. He also allegedly took the arm of one wheelchair-bound resident and used it to hit another resident who had dementia, encouraging them to fight.

"He attacked the most vulnerable people you can possibly find," Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Allen told a Van Nuys jury. "He hit them and he laughed. This was sport."

For adults considering assisted care homes for their parents, the alleged abuses are particularly distressing because of where they're said to have occurred: Silverado Senior Living. The Calabasas facilities are about as close to a four-star hotel as retirement homes get, with relatives shelling out upward of $70,000 a year to house their loved ones.

The state attorney general's office has called elder abuse in nursing homes a serious problem. In a 12-month period between 2007 and 2008, there were 85 elder abuse convictions in California, according to the state Department of Justice. Many cases go undetected or unreported, authorities said.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Abridged
SOURCE:     The LA Times
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