Rochester Man Accused Of Stranding Grandmother On Toilet For 17 Hours
ROCHESTER (KDKA) – A Beaver County man is facing charges after allegedly leaving his grandmother on a toilet for about 17 hours.
Back in January, Rochester Borough Police received a call about an elderly woman who lived in an apartment on West Madison Street.
A caregiver doing a quarterly check on the victim, Anne Stover, found the woman sitting on the bathroom toilet covered with a shower curtain and window treatments. Authorities say it was the result of trying to pull herself up. It is believed she had been sitting there for 17 hours.
Her grandson, 30-year-old Joshua Ellison, lived in the home with Stover and was her main caregiver.
"He was a nighttime person," said Rachel Simmons, a neighbor. "He stayed on the computer all night long, and if his grandmother asked him to do something, it would never get done."
Ellison worked for CARE @ Beaver County Home Makers. Officials say his grandmother was his only client.
In the criminal complaint, he says he tried to remove Stover from the toilet the day before, but she refused to move.
"If she wouldn't move, you just don't leave someone there, especially if you are the caregiver," said Simmons. "He had left her on the toilet. She had suffered a fall. She got stuck on the toilet and she couldn't get up. She was in her 80s and that caused some of her problems."
Stover was taken to Heritage Health System shortly after she was found in the bathroom. She was admitted with several ailments including sepsis, pneumonia and acute kidney failure.
"She passed away at the end of February," said Simmons. "It's pretty sad."
Simmons says since his grandmother's death, Ellison has moved away to North Carolina.
A police report was filed on March 14 and Ellison has been charged with neglect of a care-dependent person.
The Beaver County District Attorney's Office says Ellison will get a citation in the mail for a court date in Beaver County. If he doesn't return for the date, a warrant will be issued for his arrest.
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