Caretaker gets five years in elderly abuse case
Web Posted: 04/29/2008 01:36 AM CDT
A woman caught on
surveillance tape repeatedly slapping and hitting her aging patient was
sentenced Monday to five years in prison.
“It was pretty
clear from the video and the verdict that you are absolutely guilty on
both counts,” 226th District Judge Sid Harle told the woman, Alma
Berlanga, 64.
A jury in March took two minutes to find
Berlanga guilty of injury to an elderly person and injury to a disabled
person.
Continuing to admonish Berlanga, Harle told the
woman that because so many people must leave their children and their
elderly relatives in the care of others, “You're probably a juror's
worst nightmare.”
Family members of then-84-year-old
Ofelia Escobar, who had suffered a stroke and was in the advanced
stages of Alzheimer's disease, had become suspicious of Berlanga, who
cared for Escobar during the day.
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