Two Filipino caregivers accused of molesting a 98-year-old patient in California

Photo courtesy of Kyung Chang, WikiCommons

REDWOOD CITY, California – Russel Olvena Torralba, a Filipino nurse accused of molesting a 98-year old stroke victim in San Diego, was arrested in South Vancouver last week by Canada Border Services Agency, after a tip from U.S. marshals.

Torralba, who was working as a live-in caregiver for a disabled boy in Canada, is facing felony elder neglect and felony lewd conduct by a caregiver on a dependent adult in San Diego.

The charges come from a shocking incident caught on video, showing Torralba and another Filipino nurse, co-accused Alfredo Ruiz, allegedly fondling each other while touching the bed-ridden victim.

One of the nurses was seen leaning his crotch onto the patient’s hand and kissing the woman’s face. The two men were also shown masturbating and performing oral sex on each other near the patient’s bed.

The abuse reportedly took place numerous times from February to March of 2011.

The pair was hired by the woman’s family to work in her San Diego home. The family’s attorney, William Berman, told local station, San Diego 6, that the nurses were hired through a company called AMS Home Care Solutions, which was never licensed by the California Department of Public Health to provide skilled nursing care.

Torralba reportedly took nursing at the Lorma School of Nursing in San Fernando, La Union, while Ruiz finished his degree at the University of Cebu in Cebu City. Both finished in 1993.

San Diego Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood, head of the Elder Abuse Prosecution Unit, told Balitang America that Ruiz has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail.

Torralba, on the other hand, has yet to enter a plea.

Greenwood said both Filipino nurses are expected to appear in a preliminary hearing on March 20.

Torralba and Ruiz could each spend 11 years in jail if they are found guilty.