2 Filipino nurses accused of sex acts near elderly patient to stand trial

SAN DIEGO, California — Two Filipino male nurses face 11 years in prison if found guilty of nine criminal counts each of elder neglect abuse and lewd conduct by a caregiver.

Five of the counts are felonies. Both men have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.

Prosecutors began presenting evidence August 13 against Russel Torralba and Alfredo V. Ruiz, both 42, accused of performing sex acts on each other while touching a then-98-year-old bedridden patient. One nurse seems to place his crotch on the patient’s hand, later kissing the woman while adjusting his drawstring.

Prosecutors played excerpts of home surveillance video from March 3 and March 11, 2011 showing the men fondling each other while touching the woman, a 101-year-old stroke victim who is unable to speak.

San Diego 6 television news, a CW Network affiliate, obtained and released excerpts of the home surveillance video in November 2012, prompting the nurses’ removal from positions at Kindred and Promise Hospitals. The suspects’ nursing licenses have been revoked. Torralba and Ruiz were charged more than a year later, in December 2013.

The woman is reportedly conscious of her surroundings and can communicate without words. Non-verbal cues of distress prompted the family to review the security footage, according to testimony.

The cameras had been installed years earlier to protect the woman’s assets when caregivers began entering the home to provide care, Deicas testified.

A state investigator for the Department of Consumer Affairs re-interviewed Torralba in November 2012 and submitted a critical report two weeks after San Diego 6 first released the surveillance video.

Torralba was arrested in January in Canada and extradited to the US to face charges, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.