The San Mateo County Probation Department is recommending a sentence of two years minimum in state prison for an East Palo Alto woman who has already taken a one-year county jail plea deal for felony elder abuse after accidentally killing two and hospitalizing one Atria Assisted Living Facility resident, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
It’s rare that a probation department recommendation would be higher than what the court and DA’s Office already agreed upon for a plea deal, Wagstaffe said. If the court grants the higher sentence in an upcoming hearing Nov. 21, the woman, Alisia Rivera Mendoza, will have the right to withdraw her plea and go to trial.
The incident at the assisted living and memory care facility at 2883 S. Norfolk St. in San Mateo occurred Aug. 27, 2022, and resulted in the death of two residents, Gertrude Maxwell, 93, and Peter Schroeder, 93. Another resident, Richard Fong, was hospitalized but survived the ingestion, according to the DA’s Office.
Mendoza, who was an employee of the facility at the time, poured a toxic cleaning fluid into a pitcher, intending to use it to clean the kitchen after breakfast. However, another employee took the pitcher and poured it into the three residents’ glasses, the DA’s office said. The San Mateo Fire Department and 911 was called at the time of the ingestion.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.