The owner of a now-closed Castro Valley care facility was arrested at San Francisco International Airport today and charged with 14 counts of elder and dependent abuse for allegedly abandoning residents of the home in 2013.
Herminigilda Manuel, 58, owner of the former Valley Springs Manor facility, was arrested at the airport on her way back from a trip to the Philippines, said Kristin Ford, press secretary to California Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Manuel and facility administrator Edgar Babael, 46, were charged with the 14 felony counts in an amended complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland last week by prosecutors from Harris's office.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Babael, Ford said. A date for Manuel's arraignment has not yet been set, she said.
Ford said that if convicted of all counts, Manuel and Babael could face a total of up to 17 years in prison plus a $6,000 fine on each count.
The case stems from an incident in which the state Department of Social Services ordered the residential care facility closed as of Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013, because of numerous licensing violations.
Two days later, Alameda County sheriff's deputies and paramedics responding to emergency calls from the staff discovered that a skeleton crew, including a cook and a janitor, was struggling to care for 14 patients remaining at the facility. Most of the staff had left, authorities said.
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Thirteen patients were rescued that day by sheriff's deputies. A 14th patient who disappeared on Oct. 25 was found several days later in San Jose.
In a later report, the state Social Services Department said it "fell short of its mission" by failing to ensure that relocation arrangements for the residents were complete.
The incident led to calls for a series of legislative measures, known as the Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Reform Act of 2014, to protect residents and improve the oversight of facilities. Some of the measures were enacted by the state Legislature last year.
The criminal complaint alleges the abuse occurred between Oct. 18 and Oct. 24, 2013. It alleges that "under conditions likely to produce great bodily harm and death," Manuel and Babael caused the victims to suffer "unjustifiable physical pain and mental suffering" and placed them in a situation in which their health was endangered.
Eleven of the victims were listed in the complaint as elders and the other three were dependent adults, defined as people under the age of 64 who have disabilities and need an assisted living situation.
The investigation was carried out jointly by the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Ford said.
