By Rosalio Ahumada and Sam Stanton
A caregiver at a Folsom senior living facility accused of abusing an elderly Caldor Fire evacuee made her first appearance in Sacramento Superior Court since her arrest last week.
Prosecutors have charged Sharan Umlesh Kaur, 49, with one felony count of elder abuse stemming from an incident that occurred on or about Sept. 2, according to a criminal complaint filed Sept. 21 by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Kaur is accused of abusing a 90-year-old woman with dementia who was evacuated from her Pollock Pines home during the Caldor Fire. The elderly woman ended up at the Brookdale Senior Living facility on Harrington Way in Folsom.
Kaur appeared in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon for her arraignment hearing. She was accompanied by her defense attorney, Joe Hougnon. Superior Court Commissioner Ken Brody scheduled Kaur to return to court Oct. 20 for a pretrial hearing.
The defendant did not enter a plea Tuesday. Hougnon explained after the hearing the procedural matter of entering a plea will be conducted at a later date once the defense has had more time to review the evidence in the case.
Deputy District Attorney Tara Crabill asked the court for a stay-away order. Brody granted the prosecutor’s request and ordered Kaur to stay away from the listed victim in this case and the Brookdale Senior Living facility.
Defense attorney speaks outside courthouse
Kaur only spoke during her arraignment to tell Brody that she understood the charge that has been filed against her. She declined to comment after the brief court hearing, but her attorney spoke on her behalf. He said his client has no prior criminal record, is supported by her family and has ties with the community.
“We need a chance to review the evidence,” Hougnon told The Sacramento Bee outside the courthouse. “She’s never been in this kind of trouble before, she’s a very nice lady. I don’t know what happened yet, let’s see what the evidence actually is first.”
In a complaint filed Sept. 10, the Sacramento-based Foundation Aiding the Elderly accused the senior living facility of “elder abuse, failure to protect resident from physical harm, fall and left unattended, lack of dignity and insufficient staffing.”
The Bee is not identifying the 90-year-old woman because she is a victim of alleged abuse.
In the complaint to the community care licensing arm of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, FATE President Carole Herman wrote that the alleged abuse was caught on video through a camera the woman’s granddaughter had concealed in her room.
Herman said the woman’s family installed the camera because of concerns about the type of care she was receiving at the facility. Herman wrote that the family “saw evidence on the video that (the woman) had been brutally attacked by two facility employees.”
The complaint to state officials contends that the facility employees “slapped her, pulled her hair, tormented her and laughed at her.”
“Earlier that morning around 7 a.m., it is also on the video that (the woman) fell and laid on the floor in her room for almost an hour before someone came and picked her up,” Herman wrote. “Someone was seen placing a covering over her as she was on the floor naked.”
Attorney denies client’s involvement in neglect
Kaur’s defense attorney said there’s no information that indicates his client had any involvement with the allegations of neglect made by the elderly advocacy group. He said the allegation of neglect “seems a little more egregious” to him.
“I don’t think my client had anything at all to do with that,” Hougnon said. “She didn’t have anything to do with (the elderly woman) being neglected.”
Kaur was arrested Friday and released Saturday from the Sacramento County Jail. No criminal charges have been filed involving the second worker.
Officials at Brookdale’s corporate headquarters in Brentwood, Tenn., responded to the allegations in an email to The Bee. In the written statement, the officials said they have thorough employment standards, including background checks and ongoing training in compliance with state regulations.
“Inappropriate conduct or behavior is not tolerated and is dealt with appropriately,” officials wrote in the Brookdale statement. “The individuals involved are no longer with the company, and we are cooperating with the authorities.”
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