Man Who Fatally Neglected Mother Given Jail Term

A Ventura County judge sentenced a Thousand Oaks man to one year in jail Friday for fatally neglecting his crippled mother, then imposed two more years for drunk driving after scolding him for driving to a probation hearing with a revoked driver’s license.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Soares said the sentencing of Thomas J. McKelvey, 31, in the county’s first adult-abuse case presented a morally “complex picture” because of McKelvey’s increased drinking after the death of his mother.

Bedridden with multiple sclerosis, Dolores McKelvey, 57, lived at 1465 Calle Pimiento, where Thomas McKelvey and his sister, Teresa, cared for her.

On Dec. 2, 1988, paramedics answered an emergency call from Thomas McKelvey and found his mother lying in bed, covered from shoulders to ankles with her own excrement and fly-infested sores. They rushed her to Los Robles Regional Medical Center, where she died six days later.

Teresa McKelvey is scheduled to begin serving a 60-day prison term on May 7 after pleading guilty last August to one count of cruelty to a dependent adult.

Soares found Thomas McKelvey guilty of the same charge on Feb. 28 after a non-jury trial.

Then on April 12, while his license was revoked for four earlier drunk-driving convictions, Thomas McKelvey drove to the county courthouse for a probation hearing on the cruelty case and a November drunk-driving charge to which he had pleaded guilty in March.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said McKelvey’s conviction in his mother’s death poses no threat “because he doesn’t have any more mothers to neglect.”

But Kossoris urged Soares to deny McKelvey’s request for probation on the drunk-driving charge because his record proved him a danger to the public.

Kossoris also said McKelvey is profiting from the death of his mother. He cited Dolores McKelvey’s $288,000 estate, which Thomas McKelvey has already begun sharing equally with Teresa McKelvey and their sister, Janet, who lives in Washington state.

Court-appointed defense attorney Charles L. Cassy told the court that McKelvey sometimes drank heavily after his mother’s death but was seeking psychiatric care. Cassy added, “I’m confident he’d gladly trade the money for his mother.”

Before passing sentence, Soares said, “I’m certain that in no way did Mr. McKelvey intend to cause his mother to die sooner. Her disease was going to take care of that.” But Soares scolded McKelvey for having “the unmitigated gall to drive a vehicle with a suspended license to the probation office to a hearing on two felonies and then to tell the probation officer you’ve got a friend outside who’s going to give you a ride home--now that takes guts,” Soares said.

Soares called McKelvey’s illegal drive to the probation hearing “the last straw.”

McKelvey said nothing at his sentencing. But in a written statement, McKelvey told court officials, “I do not belong in prison. With the neglect conviction in my file, I do not think that I would last long. I would be in constant fear for my life. I need someone to help me--not institutionalize me.”

Soares sentenced McKelvey to three years in the Ventura County Jail, fined him $1,725 and denied his request to report to jail one week after sentencing.