Local News in Brief : 3 Charged With Abuse
Three people who allegedly kept a 71-year-old woman they lived with locked in a bedroom in Compton under squalid conditions were charged Friday with one felony count of abusing an elderly adult.
Sheriff’s deputies, acting on a tip from public and private social agencies, removed the woman, Betty Gibson, from the home April 15.
Investigators said Gibson had been kept locked in a bedroom and given a bucket for use as a toilet.
Charged by the district attorney’s office were Martha F. Richardson, 41, owner of the home, her brother, Billy W. Wilkerson, 38, and his girlfriend, Tonya Hay, 32.
Authorities said Richardson apparently began taking care of Gibson after Richardson’s mother, who had been caring for her, died two years ago.
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