Son in Elder Abuse Case Released

A man accused of abuse in the death of his 93-year-old mother was released from jail Friday over the objections of prosecutors.

Municipal Court Commissioner Dona Bracke ordered Hugh McDade, 58, of Glendale, to return to court Dec. 3 to enter a plea in the case, and instructed him not to care for any elderly people.

The coroner’s office said it could not determine the cause of the death of Agnes McDade, and ordered further tests. She died Monday after being brought to a hospital, suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest. Doctors notified authorities after seeing that the woman had numerous sores, bruises and skin tears, including a large open wound on her back that was grotesquely infected, police said.

“This woman was skeletal,” said Ardith Javan, a special prosecutor with the elder abuse section of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. “She was lying in [her own] feces. There was a big hole at her tailbone where the flesh had been eaten away [by infection].”

Prosecutors believe that Agnes McDade was capable of taking care of herself until sometime in mid-September. Based on an interview with McDade after his arrest, authorities said Agnes McDade became dizzy and disoriented about two months ago, and suffered a severe fall that rendered her unconscious for four days and left her unable to walk.

After that, she was under her son’s sole care, Javan said.

But police said McDade never sought medical care for his mother until it was too late. Instead, authorities said, he dressed her wounds with paper towels fastened with rubber bands around her legs, which cut off the woman’s blood circulation. Police said McDade used cardboard, rather than adult diapers, to contain his mother’s waste.

Javan said Agnes McDade, who was 5 feet, 2 inches tall, weighed less than 75 pounds when she died.

McDade called paramedics shortly before 7 a.m. Monday, several hours after he noticed his mother was having difficulty breathing, police said.

The felony charge against McDade essentially means he did not take proper care of his mother, according to prosecutors. He faces up to four years in state prison if convicted on a felony elder abuse charge.

In court Friday, Javan argued unsuccessfully against McDade’s release, saying he might flee now that his mother’s monthly $650 Social Security payments will cease, wiping out nearly all his financial support. The only other income McDade has is $150 per month in veteran’s benefits, she said.

But Deputy Public Defender Casey Lilienfeld said McDade has lived in Glendale for 56 of his 58 years and “is not going anywhere,” and poses a threat to no one.

“There is no allegation that he is . . . committing crimes against the community,” Lilienfeld said. “The contention is that he omitted to do something.”

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McDade, who lived with his mother in a one-bedroom apartment in southwest Glendale for more than a decade, was described by neighbors as a reclusive loner. In recent years, neighbors said, Agnes McDade seldom went outside the apartment.

“I have seen [McDade] at mass occasionally, but he was always very quiet. I didn’t even know his name,” said Glenn Sequiera, associate pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church, where McDade was a member for 20 years.

“We didn’t even know he lived with his mother until [the church pastor] was called to the hospital to read the last rites. He never mentioned her, never asked us to come visit her. It’s a real mystery to us.”