MELBOURNE, Florida—A Florida man has been charged after his 87-year-old grandmother died and authorities say her bed was filled with live maggots.
Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies say Allen Arias brought an unresponsive Anita Arias to the hospital last month. The woman was covered in bed sores and some were infested with maggots.
A search warrant of the home revealed frozen dinners and dirty diapers stacked up and blood and feces stains on the bed and walls.
Authorities said they also found full prescription bottles for Anita Arias who suffered from dementia. Authorities said she was in fair health when Allen Arias brought her home from a rehabilitation center in December.
An autopsy showed she died of dehydration and emaciation and that her blood sugar was as high as could be measured.
Elder Abuse
According to the U.S. National Institute on Aging, “Abuse can happen to anyone—no matter the person’s age, sex, race, religion, or ethnic or cultural background. Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults over the age of 60 are abused, neglected, or financially exploited. This is called elder abuse.”It added that most victims of elder abuse are women, but some are also men.
Abuse can happen to any older person, but often affects those who depend on others for help with activities of everyday life—including bathing, dressing, and taking medicine. People who are frail may appear to be easy victims,” the agency says.
"People age 65 and older experience the same crimes as the rest of the population, including financial victimization, neglect, and physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. However, older adults may be less likely to recover from their victimization, and are often sought out because of their age and decreased likelihood of reporting," according to OVC.
Elderly women are also a higher target. For every 1,000 violent victimizations, about 7 were committed against women age 65 and older, compared to 3 of every 1,000 violent victimizations against men age 65 and older.
"Additionally, while studies demonstrate that older adults are most commonly maltreated by family members or acquaintances, roughly half of violent victimizations are perpetrated by strangers," according to OVC. "Maltreatment is not always a criminal offense, but the intimate nature of many of these victimizations means that older victims are less likely to report offenses committed by someone they know."
