Quick Take
The owner and an employee of Rose Garden Residential Care Home in Watsonville are each facing one felony charge of elder abuse after state officials say a dependent adult died under their care more than two years ago.
A Watsonville residential care home owner and her employee are each facing a charge of felony elder abuse after state officials say an 88-year-old male resident died under their care in 2022.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the arrests of the care home employees in a Wednesday media release.
The attorney general’s office found that on Nov. 13, 2022, a staff member of Rose Garden Residential Care Home who was caring for the resident fell asleep and didn’t realize he had left the home. Rose Garden was located at 310 Hathaway Ave. in Watsonville.
“Dressed only in a t-shirt and diaper, the victim wandered .4 miles away from Rose Garden and died due to cold exposure,” the release says.
Candie Gomez Rogers and Librada Gomez Najera are named as defendants in the case, according to a criminal complaint filed by Bonta’s office Jan. 28 in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. It’s not clear if it was Rogers or Najera who was caring for him at the time the resident left the facility.
“Elders deserve care, respect, and protection,” Bonta said in a statement. “Those who are responsible for the care of elderly and dependent adults carry a profound duty to ensure their safety and well-being.”
Rose Garden care home obtained its license to operate on Oct. 4, 2007, and closed Oct. 31, 2024, according to the California Department of Social Services.
Department officials visited the home on April 30, 2024, to deliver a temporary suspension order to Rogers and Najera and notify them “that the facility will be closed immediately and the residents will be relocated,” according to an evaluation report.
During that visit, analysts from the state agency removed expired medications for two current residents and four former residents, found a firearm “in an open safe in the unlocked facility garage,” and they removed the license from the facility.
The state attorney general’s office didn’t return requests for comment by the time of publication. It’s not clear when Rogers and Najera were arrested, where they’re being held and why the arrests and investigation concluded more than two years after the incident.
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