Convalescent Home Worker Held on Sex Charge : Crime: Janitor with ‘spotless record’ abused Alzheimer’s patient, co-worker reports. Another molestation suspected.

A janitor at a convalescent home has been charged with sexually assaulting a 78-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease and is suspected of possibly molesting another patient, police said.

Cecilio Garcia, 61, faces a felony charge of oral copulation with an incapacitated person after a fellow employee reported seeing him assault a resident at the Palm Grove Care Center, according to police and court records.

Garcia is being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to eight years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Hight said.

The arrest of Garcia, a 16-year employee who had put together a “spotless record, one without a blotch” has been a shock to the facility’s veteran staffers, according to Terry Brown, the on-site administrator.

Co-workers speculate that Garcia must have undergone some traumatic event in his life to trigger the alleged abuse, Brown said.

“That’s all we can figure,” Brown said. “In my 20-plus years in [health care], I’ve never come across anything of this nature.”

Brown said he could not discuss the specifics of Garcia’s tenure with the care facility nor could he talk about the alleged abuse. He referred further inquiries to officials at the care center’s parent company, Summit Care Corp. of Burbank. Summit Care President William Scott could not be reached for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police arrested Garcia Nov. 24, a few hours after a health-care provider allegedly witnessed the incident involving the 78-year-old woman. The patient’s ongoing medical condition has left her unable to communicate, but she was taken to Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim for an examination, Garden Grove Police Investigator Mike Feher said.

Garden Grove Police Capt. Dave Abrecht did not elaborate on the other potential abuse incident, but said the medical condition of the second woman also made it unlikely that she would be able to talk to police. There are no witnesses to the other alleged incident, he said.

“There are allegations, but because of the emotional or mental condition of the [person] involved, we are not able to corroborate those allegations,” Abrecht said.

State records show there were no prior complaints about Garcia, according to Jacqueline Lincer, district administrator of the state licensing office in Orange County.

“In reviewing this person’s work history, you would never think this would be a likely candidate [to molest anyone],” Lincer said. “This is a long-term employee and you would not expect this.”

Officials at Palm Grove acted appropriately once they learned of the incident, promptly calling police and notifying health inspectors as required, Lincer said. She also noted that the patient’s family does not want to move her to another home.

The home has a “fairly stable” history although it did report another employee for patient abuse in July and August, Lincer said. In that instance, a certified nursing assistant was accused of physically abusing several patients.

There was no complaint of molestation in the summer incidents, Lincer said, but she declined to elaborate on the allegations because they are under investigation by Garden Grove police.

Lincer said state inspectors found “numerous problems” at the home during inspections in 1992 and 1993 and cited it twice for dietary and patient care violations in 1994. An inspection in March of this year uncovered no serious deficiencies.

Times correspondent John Garcia contributed to this story.