December 4 – Cell phone video recorded in May at a Santa Fe long-term care facility shows a disturbing scene: a young man who worked as a caregiver at a group home walks up behind a man in a wheelchair and slaps the man’s hands on a table, saying, “Play with your toys, fool.”
In another video, he punches the man’s legs and tells him, “No one will take you to the toilet, you fool, no one.”
He then pushes the disabled man onto the table and speaks into his ear, although what he says is not visible on the video.
Another employee of the facility – run by national healthcare company Community Options, Inc. – told police investigators days later that the victim had urinated on herself instead of asking to go to the bathroom since the abuse occurred, according to a police affidavit filed with the criminal. complaint against the health care provider.
The incident is one of four cases of alleged abuse of aged and disabled care in the region referred for criminal prosecution by the Ministry of Justice this week.
It wasn’t the first time the caregiver — identified as 20-year-old Salomon Sanchez of Santa Fe — was accused of abusing a disabled person in his care. Just months earlier, Sanchez pleaded no contest to a charge of assaulting a disabled child at Pojoaque Elementary School in 2023.
Exactly a year before the video was recorded at the Community Options facility, Sanchez was accused of restraining a largely nonverbal seven-year-old child with autism and forcing soap and water into the child’s mouth at the Pojoaque school.
“The treatment of our elderly and residents in long-term care facilities is a direct reflection of our values as a community,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a news release. “When health care providers violate that trust and cause harm, they not only hurt individuals, but they also undermine the safety and dignity of our entire health care system. My office will use every tool at our disposal to ensure those responsible are fully held accountable and to restore trust in healthcare.” the care these people deserve.”
The four cases were investigated by the department’s Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Division, the news release said.
Another Santa Fe man — Lee Carrizales, 64 — is facing two counts of “abuse of a resident” after, investigators say, he yelled and cursed at a woman in a memory care unit at a Pacifica Senior Living facility on Galisteo in January Road.
Prosecutors provided video of that incident, in which the man shouts, “Stop it [expletive] already crying, stop!” and “You’re on your own now, I don’t have to deal with you anymore.” Another video shows the man cursing at the woman, who apparently suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by state agents.
The woman told investigators that the incident caused her to become “afraid” of Carrizales, according to the probable cause statement.
Pacifica has faced several lawsuits in recent years over substandard living conditions and care at its Santa Fe residential facility, and state officials have noted failures to comply with state regulations.
Justice Department investigators also say that Linda Romero, 52, who is paid to care for her disabled adult son in Las Vegas, NM, through the state’s Developmental Disabilities Waiver, punched him multiple times in front of several witnesses outside a state Income Support Division office. in Las Vegas. Romero is facing two counts of abuse of a resident. Edwards D. Bonilla-Aguinada, a 34-year-old employee at a Morningstar Assisted Living facility in Rio Rancho, is accused of “aggressively forcing an 89-year-old resident with Alzheimer’s disease to undergo a diaper change after an accident , which did not take her into account.” discomfort and condition.”
Besides Sanchez, none of the others charged by the Justice Department have previously faced such criminal charges in New Mexico, according to a search of a statewide court database.
Sanchez was initially charged in May with a misdemeanor “criminal solicitation of abuse of a resident” by Santa Fe police, who alleged the incident caused “physical harm or great psychological harm.”
Santa Fe police said at the time that charges would likely be refiled. The charge Sanchez now faces is a minor misdemeanor.
Justice Department spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez said the previous charge was dismissed so state agents could conduct a comprehensive investigation, “including obtaining the victim’s medical records to determine the extent of any injuries they may have incurred as a result of the abuse.” She said prosecutors have filed charges that are “most appropriate under New Mexico statutes.”
The four charged this week are each charged with minor misdemeanors for abusing a resident, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to six months.
Oversight of health care facilities, including long-term care, is the responsibility of the State Health Care Authority, which assumed some of the responsibilities of the Ministry of Health during a reorganization of the state government in July.
“As the compliance oversight authority for accredited health care facilities and community programs, the Division for Health Improvement takes very seriously its role in ensuring safe and effective health care for New Mexicans,” state agency spokesperson Marina Piña wrote in an email mail. Wednesday. “This includes timely investigation and monitoring of cases of alleged abuse, neglect and exploitation of persons receiving health care services.”
She said monitoring takes the form of “regular health and wellness visits, monthly check-ins from case managers and counselors, and comprehensive audits.”
Providers are required to check the agency’s “employee abuse registry” before hiring potential workers, Pina said.
Bonilla-Aguinada and Carrizales have both been referred to the clerk’s office for their pending charges, she wrote, but Romero and Sanchez have not, because their cases do not meet the “severity standard” set out in the state’s administrative code.
Additionally, the agency requires potential caregivers to agree to a federal and state-wide criminal history screening, which includes “disqualifying circumstances such as crimes involving adult abuse, neglect or financial exploitation that prevent employment as a caregiver,” wrote Pina.
Noemi Rivera, New Mexico state director of Community Options, wrote in a response Wednesday that the company “is committed to providing safe and supportive housing for people with disabilities and has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse or mistreatment of any kind.
“We conduct all background checks as required by the State of New Mexico,” Rivera wrote. “Upon learning of the incident, the employee was immediately suspended and subsequently dismissed based on the investigation. We are fully cooperating with authorities to ensure justice is served.”
Rivera declined to answer why Sánchez was hired despite the 2023 battery charge.
Community Options, which receives millions in state and federal dollars to care for people with disabilities, was placed on a “performance improvement plan” by the state in November 2023 due to deficiencies in areas such as health tracking, incident reporting and staff skills, staff turnover and recruitment, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said earlier this year. The company had completed 13 of the agency’s 27 identified tasks as of June.
According to Piña, Community Options had made progress on the plan by Wednesday, completing 18 of the 27 tasks.
