A fugitive male nurse was arrested in Canada and will be extradited to San Diego to face trial with another male nurse for elder abuse. Both men had sex with each other in front of a 98-year-old female stroke patient and are charged with committing a lewd act with her.
Canadian officials arrested Russell Olvena Torralba, 41, Jan. 13 in Vancouver on a $200,000 warrant that was issued Dec. 19 by a San Diego Superior Court judge.
Both Torralba and Alfredo Villagarcia Ruiz, 42, are charged with eight elder abuse counts and committing a lewd act on the 98-year-old woman who could not speak and was bedfast. The alleged acts took place after the woman’s daughter placed a hidden video camera in her room.
Unfortunately, the video has been placed on YouTube on the Internet, and has been used in television newscasts. The victim’s face is blocked out, as are the genitals of the men engaging in sex in front of her.
The woman moved her arm during one incident and Ruiz is charged with putting his penis in her hand while Torralba is holding him. The video also seems to show one man kissing her on the cheek while the other is fondling him.
This activity took place in the woman’s own home when both nurses were hired to take care of her in 2011. The woman’s daughter became suspicious when she walked into the room with her mother and found Torralba and Ruiz sitting close together.
Ruiz’s shoes and socks were on the floor and his feet were in Torralba’s lap, according to a court declaration. Both men jumped up suddenly and began exercising. Torralba told the daughter he was giving Ruiz a “range of motion exercises.”
The registered nursing licenses for both men were revoked July 2, 2013. Ruiz stayed in town and is free on $200,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty.
The elder abuse counts against both men involve other patients at two facilities that Torralba operated in Mira Mesa in 2010. When doctors examined elderly patients at both facilities, some patients were rushed to a hospital because of their poor conditions, according to court records.
One of the facilities turned out to be unlicensed. Some patients should have been in skilled nursing home facilities. The other facility was licensed to hold six patients, but had eight when a doctor showed up to check on a patient.
Torralba relocated to Vancouver and was working illegally as a nurse in a home with a 7-year-old boy who was developmentally handicapped.
“We put this case to the top of our priority list,” said Canada Border Services Agency spokesman Chris Schwartz.
Schwartz said his agency received a tip that Torralba was working in Vancouver and within 24 hours he was arrested.
Referring to the 98-year-old patient, Schwartz said “she was incoherent, unable to move or defend herself against these heinous actions, and the fact that he could possibly be doing these things in Canada as well, we treated this as a top priority.”
A preliminary hearing is set for March 20 for Ruiz, and it may be delayed, depending on when Torralba is extradited here.
