Man’s Plea Avoids Prison in Elder Abuse Case

A Glendale man accused of allowing his 93-year-old mother to die in a bed of filth and squalor has pleaded no contest to a felony charge of elder abuse, a deal that allows him to avoid prison.

Hugh Thomas McDade, 58, a former security guard who shared a one-bedroom apartment with his mother, entered his no-contest plea during his arraignment Monday before Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz.

In exchange for his no-contest plea, McDade faces three years of probation and an $800 fine when he returns to court June 6 for sentencing before Schwartz, Deputy Public Defender Jeffrey Treloar said.

The prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ardith Javan, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the maximum penalty for McDade would have been four years in state prison.

Until calling paramedics on Nov. 11, the Army veteran had cared for his increasingly ill mother, Agnes McDade, by dressing her sores, skin tears and bruises with paper towels and using cardboard to contain her waste, prosecutors said. She died of cardiopulmonary arrest within minutes of arriving at a local hospital.

Police, summoned because of the 75-pound woman’s injuries and skeletal condition, arrested McDade after concluding he failed to seek medical care for his mother until it was too late. The woman’s health had faltered perilously the final two months of her life, particularly after a severe fall that had rendered her unconscious for four days and left her unable to walk, authorities said. They said she also suffered from a large open wound on her back that had become grotesquely infected.

Described by neighbors as a reclusive loner, McDade had been unemployed for about 12 years and apparently had lived off his mother’s savings and government assistance, Glendale Police Sgt. Jon Perkins has said.

Treloar said McDade, released from jail shortly after his mother’s death, is now working. He added that Treloar has no prior record other than a 1966 charge of driving under the influence.

When McDade returns to court, his attorney will ask the judge to reduce the conviction to misdemeanor elder abuse, Treloar said.