Man is charged with elder abuse

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has filed torture and elder abuse charges against a former employee of an upscale assisted-living facility in Calabasas.

Cesar Ulloa, 20, of Reseda was charged Monday after an investigation into the suspicious death of an 80-year-old resident of the facility.

Elmore Kittower’s body was exhumed last year after a whistle-blower said he had been the victim of foul play. After a nearly yearlong investigation, Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives arrested Ulloa on suspicion of beating Kittower shortly before he died.

Authorities said Ulloa had been abusing him for months beforehand.

An autopsy revealed that Kittower died of a blood clot in his lung, but it also cited blunt force trauma as a contributing factor to his death.

Ulloa was also charged with abusing three other residents of the Silverado Senior Living facility. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said.

Three other former Silverado employees who were arrested on suspicion of elder abuse along with Ulloa were released Monday when prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to file charges. They were identified as Maria Gomez, 34, of Oxnard; Luis Arrellano, 21, of Winnetka; and Juan Soto, 21, also of Winnetka.