Two gay male nurses who were caught on hidden camera having sex in front of their patient, a 98-year-old grandmother, both pleaded guilty Monday to committing felony elder abuse.
They both face up to one year in jail when they are sentenced March 30 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh. Both remain free on $200,000 bond.
The registered nurses licenses of both men, Russell Olvena Torralba, 42, of Bonita, and Alfredo Villagarcia Ruiz, 43, of San Diego, were revoked in July, 2013, by the state and they are no longer caring for patients.
Court records show the District Attorney’s office will not seek more than one year in jail, but the maximum sentence is four years in state prison.
The family of the grandmother had hidden security cameras installed in 2011 in her La Jolla home and they were shocked when they discovered the nurses were engaging in sexual acts in front of her. The videos somehow got leaked onto the Internet and portions aired on television news with the grandmother’s face obscured.
Both men had a five and a half day preliminary hearing last August, and were ordered to stand trial on multiple elder abuse counts, some including neglect of patients in a facility that Torralba ran in Mira Mesa. The judge tossed out allegations they had molested the grandmother involving a scene in which one man kissed her while the other was fondling him.
The grandmother could not speak following a stroke and she could only move her left arm. The video showed her left arm hitting the bed as Torralba was seen having oral sex with Ruiz in the room. Her daughter testified it showed her mother’s distress.
Torralba signed a statement in his guilty plea saying he “inflicted unjustifiable mental suffering upon an elder.” Torralba also pleaded guilty to elder abuse as a misdemeanor involving care of another patient in 2010 in his Mira Mesa facility which he no longer owns.
