LEESBURG – A Leesburg man was arrested and charged with neglect of an elderly person Monday night after officers responded to a call at Waterman Hospital in Tavares.
Tavares Officer, Ofc. Atkinson arrived at Waterman and spoke with the unnamed victim who told him and the hospital staff that her son was mistreating her.
The victim stated that she has been bed-ridden due to her back being fractured and that her son, 50-year-old Kevin Steven Hayes, lived in the same home with her and was her primary caregiver.
According to police reports, the victim was sitting in a recliner located in her bedroom and called out for help from Hayes for over an hour, begging and yelling for him to help her off of the recliner. During that time, Hayes came over to close the door to her room and continued to ignore her.
Hayes’s mother fell from the recliner onto the floor of her bedroom. She again attempted to get Hayes begging him to call 911 since she had fallen, Hayes responded that he was “busy watching his television program”. The victim was calling for help while on the floor for over an hour before Hayes came to check on her and called 911.
According to the paramedics that arrived on the scene, Hayes was intoxicated and at one point snatched an empty bottle of Oxycodone from the hands of one of the firefighters.
Hayes’s mother admitted to officers that she was afraid to return to her home after she was released from the hospital stating that her son had threatened to kill her if she came back and asked officers for assistance in finding a nursing home.
Doctors at Waterman Hospital told police that during the incident, the victim fractured her hip and would need surgery.
Hayes was arrested at his home on Tweed Court in Leesburg and taken to the Lake County Jail. He is currently being held on a $40,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear before a judge for his arraignment on September 12 at 8:30 a.m.
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