Crime Time

Boy accused of beating disabled mother

An 11-year-old California boy was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse after his disabled mother was beaten severely with an extension cord, according to The Associated Press.

Prosecutors said the boy appeared to be the primary caregiver of his 51-year-old mother and prepared meals and did laundry in the home they shared.

Elk Grove police spokesman Christopher Trim called it one of the more unusual cases he has seen.

"Typically the situation is reversed," he said. "A kid will go to school with marks or bruises, and someone calls police and the parent is arrested."

-- The Associated Press

Houston twins let mother die after a fall, lived with corpse for months

Houston police made a gruesome discovery at home where two twin adult men lived with their elderly mother.

The Associated Press reports that Edward Larry Berndt and Edwin Christian Berndt, both 48, were arrested Monday and charged with murder after an officer responding to a welfare check found 89-year-old Sybil Berndt dead on the floor.

The twins later told police that they lived with and cared for their mother when she suffered a fall on January 10. The two men were watching the BCS Championship when they heard her fall on the floor.

She didn't get back up. Instead, Edwin said that she remained conscious and able to speak for the first day but didn't ask for any help.

The two brothers didn't get her medical attention while she was laying on the floor, nor did they give her any food or water.

She died three days later. What's worse, Edwin told police he remembered the day she died because it was a day after her 89th birthday.

Speaking with investigators, Edwin explained that the reason for leaving her on the floor was that they didn't have the money to afford a hospital visit or a burial.

He said that they didn't call police because they didn't want to go to jail either.

An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.

-Chance Welch

Man accused of attacking elderly dad with samurai sword

Law enforcement officials in San Diego say that a 39-year-old man attacked his 69-year-old father with a samurai sword as the elder man was asleep.

John Cahan was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse in connection with the attack. The father was in critical condition Monday night at a San Diego hospital, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Worker tortured elderly retirement home residents

A former worker at an upscale Los Angeles-area retirement home was convicted Thursday of torture and elder abuse.

Cesar Ulloa, 21, was alleged to have laughed as he viciously attacked residents of the home, some of whom had such severe dementia that they were unable to call for help, according to testimony at his trial.

Here's how one fellow caregiver described what she saw in one case: Ulloa jumped on a mute 78-year-old woman's chest and body-slammed her into a bed when she struggled.

According to testimony, another worker said she saw Ulloa jump from a dresser and land with both knees on an elderly man's abdomen. Ulloa also was accused of using the arm of a resident in a wheelchair to hit another resident who had dementia while encouraging them to fight, the Los Angeles Times reported.

-- Lance Murray