A 65-year-old man is missing from a Castro Valley care facility accused of abandoning its elderly residents, officials said.
Alameda County Sheriff's deputies were called to the Valley Manor Community Care Home assisted living facility Saturday after it was determined patients had been left "abandoned" there by the owners and staff. Deputies said 14 residents were left behind with a janitor and a cook.
The rest of the employees left after the state ordered the facility to be shutdown on Thursday.
One of the residents, Edmund Bascom (pictured below), walked away on Friday and still has not been found, officials said.
MORE: Lawyer Denies Castro Valley Facility Abandoned Patients; Challenges State Complaint
A nursing assistant at the facility said she was sick over the conditions patients had to endure.
"I know half of them probably hadn't had a bath in months," Lori Pendleston said.
Janitor Miguel Alvarez said he did his best to care for the seniors and waited for help that never came. Alvarez was hired two weeks ago and said he had not been trained to be a caregiver.
Alvarez said he called 911 four times, finally telling the fire department on Saturday he needed more help.
The state Department of Social Services had posted a notice on the door stating that the facility was to be closed on Oct. 24. The sign on the front door read, "NOTICE: CLOSED FOR BUSINESS."
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MORE: Castro Valley Assisted Living Facility Shut Down, Patients Abandoned
The lawyer for the owner of Valley Manor Community Care Home in Castro Valley on Monday vehemently disagreed with the state department's complaint, which prompted the facility's closure.
The complaint asserted staff was not properly trained or background checked, the facility was dirty and in disrepair with rodent droppings in the food pantry and not enough food was suitable to eat.
Not so said lawyer Orrin Grover, who went on to dispute the notion that residents of the facility were abandoned.
"They were absolutely not abandoned," he said. "The facility was properly staffed on Saturday and from the discussion I was having with folks on Saturday morning everything there was under control."
