The previous worker of a San Mateo assisted dwelling facility who left a pitcher of poisonous cleansing fluid within the kitchen that one other worker mistook for juice and served to residents — ensuing within the deaths of two 93-year-olds — was sentenced Friday to 40 days in county jail and two years supervised probation.
Alisia Rivera Mendoza, 38, was additionally ordered to finish 350 hours of neighborhood service, together with chatting with these working within the care business to warn them in opposition to her mistake, based on the San Mateo County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
In August, Rivera Mendoza pleaded no contest to at least one felony depend of elder abuse in alternate for no time in state jail and a most sentence of 1 yr in county jail, prosecutors mentioned. Rivera Mendoza’s sentence will also be decreased to a misdemeanor after one yr of complying with probation.
She was initially charged in 2023 with two counts of felony involuntary manslaughter and three counts of felony elder abuse.
Rivera Mendoza’s sentence was imposed by San Mateo County Superior Courtroom Choose Michael Wendler, who additionally denied a protection movement that may have instantly decreased the cost to a misdemeanor.
San Mateo County District Legal professional Stephen Wagstaffe mentioned Monday that Wendler’s sentence was “thoughtful,” as Rivera Mendoza doesn’t have a previous felony report and the error was not intentional.
“Forty days on its face does sound low, but what Judge Wendler has done is taken what might have been a longer jail sentence and converted that into public service hours — that 350 hours of public service work is what he felt was more appropriate for punishment, because 350 hours is a substantial number of days,” Wagstaffe mentioned. “I am not dissatisfied with the sentence.”
Wagstaffe added that Rivera Mendoza has proven regret for the incident.
Rivera Mendoza’s protection lawyer, Josh Bentley, didn’t reply to a request for remark Monday.
Rivera Mendoza can be not permitted to work in assisted dwelling or elder care sooner or later, should pay $370 in fines and costs and pays restitution in an quantity to be decided. She additionally can not possess ammunition, weapons or physique armor and is topic to look and seizure.
Atria Park of San Mateo was understaffed on the morning of Aug. 28, 2022 when Rivera Mendoza poured cleansing fluid right into a pitcher on the kitchen counter with the intention of utilizing it to scrub the kitchen, prosecutors mentioned.
When Rivera Mendoza went to serve breakfast to the ability’s residents, she left the pitcher on the counter. One other worker mistook the pitcher of cleansing fluid for juice and poured it into three residents’ glasses, prosecutors mentioned.
The three residents, pondering the liquid poured into their glasses was juice, drank it, prosecutors added.
The three residents – 93-year-old Gertrude Maxwell, 93-year-old Peter Schroder Jr. and Richard Fong – “immediately went into serious distress” after taking only a few sips of the liquid, prosecutors mentioned. Emergency companies reported to the scene to supply assist, however Maxwell and Schroeder died attributable to ingestion of the poisonous cleansing fluid.
Each Maxwell and Schroder suffered from extraordinarily painful blisters on their mouths earlier than they died, their households mentioned. Fong survived consuming the fluid, prosecutors added.
This isn’t the one case of seniors dying after ingesting poisonous fluids whereas in Bay Space assisted dwelling services. A 94-year-old man, Constantine Canoun, died in 2022 after consuming an all-purpose cleaner he present in an unlocked cupboard and mistook for a sugary beverage at Atria Walnut Creek. An worker was equally charged with felony elder abuse in that case.
In one other case, a 55-year-old paraplegic man alleged that Diablo Valley Publish Acute, a nursing dwelling in Harmony the place he was staying for six weeks whereas recovering from surgical procedure, gave him a bleach-based wound-cleaning resolution in a cup to scrub down his drugs.
In 2022, the household of Schroder filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit in opposition to Atria that additionally alleged negligence and elder abuse. The lawsuit alleged {that a} lack of employees contributed to his loss of life. That very same yr, Maxwell’s household filed a separate wrongful loss of life lawsuit alleging that Atria tried to cowl up the third loss of life at its Walnut Creek facility.
Wagstaffe added that the households of the 2 victims didn’t have “heavy animus toward” Rivera Mendoza.
“They were more concerned about Atria and the fact that they were understaffed,” Wagstaffe mentioned, including that there was inadequate evident to prosecute Atria on this case.
Kathryn Stebner, the lawyer who represented the Schroder household, mentioned that Rivera Mendoza’s sentence is gloomy to each her and the Schroder household. The household’s wrongful loss of life lawsuit was settled in early 2025, she added.
“She’s basically a scapegoat in the face of (Atria’s) continuous wrongdoing. To point the finger at her is just not right,” Stebner mentioned. “The real culprits were the corporation, not this poor woman who was overworked, underpaid and the scapegoat of Atria.”
The California Division of Social Companies additionally fined Atria $39,500 for the 2 deaths and one hospitalization and in 2023 was contemplating revoking the care facility’s license. On the time, the corporate appealed the division’s determination.
As of November, Atria Park of San Mateo had a “probationary” license standing, based on the Division of Social Companies.
In an announcement when Rivera Mendoza was first charged in 2023, Atria Senior Residing mentioned that it was cooperating with authorities.
“We took immediate action in response to this incident, including reviewing and reinforcing our training and policies on chemical safety,” the assertion mentioned. “As always, we remain focused on the safety, health, and well-being of all our residents.”
Rivera Mendoza is at the moment out of custody on supervised personal recognizance. She is going to give up to jail on Feb. 7.
