Hospital Bill Is Suspect’s Escape Ticket

Authorities are on the lookout for Anthony Garcia, a 24-year-old Sun City man wanted on suspicion of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and felony drunk driving.

They had their hands on him for awhile. But through a series of mix-ups--brought on in part by Riverside County authorities’ fear of being saddled with his $37,964.49 medical bill--Anthony Garcia became the one that got away.

On Nov. 13, after 19 days in the Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, and still sporting his patient’s robe, Garcia walked out of the hospital on crutches, got into a friend’s car and disappeared. A statewide search is under way.

Doctors at the Mission Viejo hospital and others familiar with the case have expressed outrage that Garcia was not arrested immediately.

The California Highway Patrol has weighed in, with officials of the agency saying Friday that they had placed an armed guard in Garcia’s hospital room but removed him after Riverside County sheriff’s detectives said they would take over the case.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department sees the whole thing as a mix-up and has refused to accept responsibility for Garcia’s newfound freedom.

Meanwhile, doctors at Orange County’s trauma center say cases like this are becoming more common nationwide as law enforcement agencies grapple with dwindling budgets.

Garcia is suspected of several crimes, including stealing a truck at gunpoint, then crashing it head-on into a van. Critically injured in the Oct. 26 crash was the van’s driver, Richard E. Wheatfill, a San Juan Capistrano dentist and father of five, who was heading to a Boy Scout camp.

CHP officials and the Sheriff’s Department said the crash, which occurred on Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano, capped a weeklong crime rampage.

After the crash, both Garcia and Wheatfill were taken to the Mission Viejo hospital.

Garcia had a broken hip and internal injuries. Doctors said his blood-alcohol content was 0.17%, more than twice the legal limit for driving.

Wheatfill was hospitalized with two broken ankles, a crushed right leg, a broken jaw and internal injuries. He is in fair condition.

Hospital officials said Riverside detectives refused to take Garcia into custody because they did not want to be responsible for his medical bill.

Riverside sheriff’s officials acknowledge that Garcia’s medical bill played a role in the failure to take Garcia into custody immediately, but they deny responsibility for Garcia’s escape.

“There was a breakdown in the system,” said Lt. Bill Caldwell of the department’s Lake Elsinore substation, adding that detectives planned to arrest Garcia when he was discharged.

“Of course medical bills come into play when you’re dealing with public funds,” he said. “But placing fault now is Monday-morning quarterbacking. I honestly believe it was not our fault.”

Sheriff’s officials had asked the hospital to alert them when Garcia was about to be discharged, and would have arrested him then, Caldwell said. Garcia then would have been liable for his own bills.

But hospital officials said Garcia left without waiting to be discharged.

Dr. Thomas Shaver, director of trauma services at Mission Hospital, said doctors and nurses were baffled at the way Riverside sheriff’s investigators “shirked their responsibility” in the Garcia case.

“How in the world can something like this happen?” Shaver asked. “We’ve called (the Sheriff’s Department), talked to them, told (them) he might leave. . . . Now what will it cost to catch this man who they already had in their hands?”

Comments Friday from CHP officials also seemed to implicate Riverside.

“They called and said, ‘Let us have him,’ ” said Capt. Steve Malone of the CHP’s office in San Juan Capistrano. “We kept a guard on him until they showed up.”

Bob Doyle, chief deputy of the Riverside Sheriff’s Department, said Friday he could not comment on Malone’s account. Other department officials said a Riverside detective did go to the hospital but never placed Garcia under arrest.

As for why no Riverside guard was placed there, Caldwell, in an earlier interview, said detectives were told that Garcia was sedated and not going anywhere.

“It is unfortunate that he left the hospital . . . but we don’t have the resources” to place a guard in Garcia’s room, Caldwell added.

Trauma experts at UCI Medical Center in Orange, who were not familiar with the Garcia case, said law enforcement agencies increasingly try to dodge hospital bills by not arresting suspects when they are hospitalized.

“If you include driving under the influence cases, it happens daily,” said Dr. Kenneth Waxman, chief of trauma services at the medical center. “It’s a known phenomenon, a longstanding problem that may be a little worse now.”

Shavers said a group of Southern California hospitals is planning a class-action suit against police agencies that “bring sick people in and then leave them.”

As early as Oct. 29, hospital officials said, they informed sheriff’s investigators that Garcia’s condition had stabilized and he could be taken to the jail ward in Riverside General Hospital. He still required hip surgery, which could be performed there, they said.

Hospital records show that a trauma center nurse notified the Riverside Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 30 that they needed to “pick Garcia up.”

In that conversation, a detective insisted that “Riverside County will not pick up the bill” because Garcia was not under arrest when he was taken to the hospital, according to hospital records, copies of which were obtained by The Times.

Caldwell could not comment on that conversation. But he said detectives did not want to move Garcia while he was receiving treatment.

“I do not have an answer as to why it happened and to how it happened,” Caldwell said.