North Hollywood : Couple Sentenced for Abandoning Relative

A North Hollywood couple were sentenced to 90 days in jail for abandoning her ailing 79-year-old aunt at a park known for its drug and gang activity, the city attorney’s office said.

Mercedes Sepulveda, 42, and her boyfriend, Leonel Rendon, 48, each pleaded no contest to one count of elder abuse Thursday and were told not to annoy, harm or molest her aunt, who is now living in a Van Nuys convalescent hospital, Deputy City Atty. Patrick Hiscocks said.

The elderly woman, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and asthma, was dropped off with bags of clothing and personal belongings at Sun Valley Park in the 8000 block of Vineland Avenue about 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 27, Hiscocks said.

“Detectives mentioned that the park is very dangerous location,” the deputy city attorney said.

Los Angeles police officers found her in the park the following evening, he said. Although she was dehydrated and disoriented, she had not been harmed, Hiscocks said. The woman could not remember her name or address, but police found documents among her belongings that led them to a North Hollywood apartment, where Rendon, Sepulveda and her aunt had lived, authorities said.

According to court documents, Sepulveda, who had cared for her aunt for 20 years, said she could no longer do so because the elderly woman had become a financial burden.