Murder and Financial Elder Abuse in Northern California Nursing Homes

Unfortunately, sometimes the very people who are responsible for the care of elders are the very same people who abuse them. Two alarming cases of elder abuse by caregivers made national headlines this past week. Both cases involved caregivers working in nursing homes in the San Francisco Bay Area; one case involved the deliberate murder of a patient, and the other involved financial elder abuse.

Daly City Nursing Home Assistant Murders Patient

A 37 year-old certified nursing home assistant, Maximo Hong Fajardo Jr., intentionally smothered 87 year-old Barbara McIver with a pillow in front of other patients and staff members. Fajardo had been a certified nursing home assistant for over ten years, but had been employed at the Convalescent Center Mission Street in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, for two weeks. After smothering McIver, Fajardo fled the nursing home and carjacked a car in an attempt to escape. He is currently being held on $10 million bail

Former Nursing Home Administrator Accused of Financial Abuse of Residents

In Berkeley, California, former assistant administrator of the Elmwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Concepcion "Connie" Pinco Giron told her supervisor that Carnell Williams, a patient at the home, was being transferred to another facility. Giron then proceeded to move Williams into her own home, and began cashing Williams’ pension and social security checks. Giron is also accused of establishing bank accounts for five other patients and transferring funds from those accounts into her own bank account. Giron used the patients’ ATM cards and wrote checks to herself from their accounts.

Giron is currently being held in lieu of $365,000 bail and has been charged with multiple counts of elder abuse and theft from elder or dependent adults by a caretaker, kidnapping to commit another crime, and false imprisonment.

Unfortunately these are not isolated incidents. According to the San Francisco Examiner, one out of 20 elders in California will be the victim of neglect, psychological, physical or financial abuse this year. If you or someone you know has been the victim of nursing home abuse or negligence, contact the Casiano Law Firm for a confidential consultation to discuss your case.