TRENTON – Two Ocean County residents have been charged with assaulting an elderly patient at a Toms River long-term care facility where they worked, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.
Joseph Robles, 23, of Tuckerton, and Maria Alcantara, 53, of Toms River, have been charged in a state grand jury indictment with neglect, criminal restraint and assault on a 93-year-old woman staying at the Alzheimer’s care facility where the defendants were employed, Platkin said.
The attorney general did not name the health care institution.
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Robles and Alcantara are accused of physically restraining the patient in an attempt to injure her between Jan. 13 and 15, 2023, Platkin said in an investigation.
The investigation also found that the couple allegedly failed to monitor the patient’s health, but noted in her file that she was checked every half hour, the attorney general said.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, he said.
The investigation was conducted by the Insurance Fraud Attorney’s Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
A reporter in New Jersey since 1985, Kathleen Hopkins covers crime, trials, legal issues and virtually every major murder case affecting Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River nursing home workers accused of abusing elderly woman
