In recent news, a 43-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years in California state prison for the 2002 assault and rape of a woman residing in a Palo Alto, California nursing home.
As our Baltimore, Maryland employment attorneys previously reported on this case in a blog, Roberto Recendes pleaded guilty in October of last year to one count of sexual penetration by force, one count of elder abuse, and also pleased guilty to a penalty enhancement for inflicting bodily injury on the elderly woman.
Recendes was only linked to the 2002 crime when a DNA sample was taken from him after he was convicted of domestic violence in 2004. Two years after the conviction, his DNA was matched to the sample taken at the nursing home rape crime scene. In 2002, the case drew national attention, after a high school student was arrested by the Palo Alto police, and reportedly forced to confess to the nursing home abuse and rape crimes. The student was later exonerated of the crimes due to the DNA evidence.
As our Prince George’s County nursing home attorneys have stated in a previous blog, under the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, residents have the right to live in a nursing home environment that is safe, and provides quality care and attention that improves and maintains their highest mental and physical well being, and is free from nursing home abuse and negligence.
If a Maryland nursing home fails to keep residents safe from nursing home abuse or assault that can result in the personal injury or death of a resident, the nursing home could be responsible for Maryland nursing home negligence or even wrongful death.
In Baltimore, Maryland, contact our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers today.
Man gets 17 years for raping and beating 94-year-old Palo Alto woman, Contra Costa Times, January 07, 2011
Man Pleads Guilty to Rape of 94-year-old Woman at Palo Alto Nursing Home, Mercury News, October 19, 2010
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