Joel Ombao, the owner of an unlicensed Riverside senior care center, was found guilty on four counts of cruelty to the elderly July 31.
In the same trial, Ombao’s assistant, Ronnel Tiburcio, was convicted on six felony counts of cruelty to the elderly. Registered nurse Nimfa Molina was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of elder abuse.
Follow Our Courts reached out to the defendants’ representation for comment.
Investigators had found six of the people in Ombao’s care to be malnourished, dehydrated and neglected, the California Department of Justice announced. The victims ranged between 32 to 66 years old.
The company, Secure Hands, at the intersection of Van Buren Boulevard and Audrey Street, did not have the staffing or equipment to care for the residents, the Department of Justice said.
Ombao can be sentenced to as much as seven years in prison, while Tiburcio may be sentenced to nine years, and Molina six months in county jail.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez urged the highest sentence.
“To prey on the vulnerable deserves nothing less than the harshest consequences available,” he said in the DOJ’s press release.
“Caretakers of elderly and dependent adults have the responsibility of protecting their patients’ dignity, safety, and health,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta in his press release. “Instead, the victims in this case suffered horrific neglect and lack of care at the hands of those who were trusted with their well-being.
The defendants were arrested Jan. 24, 2015. The trial had begun June 6. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 25.
Another defendant, Beverly Guerrero, had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of cruelty to the elderly in November 2020. Her two charges for felony counts of cruelty to the elderly were dropped during the plea.
Secure Hands had already survived two civil cases before the criminal judgment.
Riverside City had sued the care facility and its property owners Feb. 26, 2015, for nuisance and abatement, and violations of the health and safety code. The city asked the case to be dismissed Aug. 3, 2015.
According to the filed complaint, Secure Hands operated in a single family residence with 3,500 square feet of living space.
The complaint goes on to say that Riverside police inspected the property on Jan. 26, 2015, after receiving a complaint from a family member of one of the patients. The family member said they found their sister on the floor of the property covered in her own fecal matter after being released from the hospital. Police found a patient lying on the floor, underneath a mattress, and smelled an overwhelming amount of urine and feces. The patient was naked with an overfilled adult diaper. She said she had not been given water for days.
Another patient, also covered in feces and urine, was lying on top of a box spring.
A third patient, who was on hospice, had been having seizures throughout the day, but was not cared for.
The patients claimed they had not eaten that day.
One of the rooms in the property was being rented by a family that did not have medical issues and did not claim responsibility for the care of the patients.
One patient told the police officers that he was cared for by a nurse four days a week, and that his urine pad is not changed when she’s not there.
During a later interview, a patient said that he was not allowed to talk.
The property owners filed their own suit against Secure Hands, Ombao and members of Ombao’s family Sept. 2, 2015. Their third amended complaint, filed May 14, 2018, claimed conspiracy to commit fraud and breach of oral contract.
Their amended complaint said that Ombao and his family own and run 22 other businesses across California, including San Bernardino’s Joel Ombao, Inc.; Pasadena’s Dynamic Health Services, Inc.; Sherman Home Health Care, LLC; Grand Terrace’s Starlight of Hemet, LLC; and Rancho Cucamonga’s Hospice Spectrum Inland Empire; Secure Hands Medical Supply, Inc.; and CareSolutions 360.
That case was dismissed in August 2018.
Case information
Riverside Case No. RIF1601508
Kris Reich of the California Department of Justice prosecuted.
The defendants were represented by Vitaly Sigal of Sherman Oaks’ Sigal Law Group, Mark Hardiman of Los Angeles’ Nelson Hardiman LLP, Chelsea Taylor of the Encino Law Offices of Mark Bledstein and Riverside’s Mark Cantrell of the Law Office of Mark Cantrell.
