Juanita Jones, whose home sits on 28 acres in the 3000 block of B 1/2 Road, might be charged with causing serious bodily injury to an at-risk adult, a felony, and 77 counts of animal cruelty.
Medical staff at a Grand Junction practice told Mesa County sheriff’s investigators Jones’ mother, 76, had a history of developing wounds, an affidavit said. The staff said that they taught Jones — who reportedly lived with her nephew, her sister, and her mother at the home — how to treat wounds, wrap her mother’s legs and recognize warning signs that meant she needed to seek further medical attention, according to the report.
“Juanita was to bring (her mother) in for treatment immediately if any open wounds were discovered,” the report said.
Jones also reportedly told law enforcement she had medical power of attorney for her mother, the affidavit said.
By the time Jones’ mother was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital in late March, the woman had open, gangrenous wounds on her heels, one of which was to the bone, the report said.
One foot “appeared detached from the ankle,” and the woman had another wound on her shin and blackened dead flesh on other parts of her lower body, the affidavit said.
The woman died April 21 after refusing leg amputations. A coroner’s report said her infection had likely been present for at least two weeks before she was admitted to the hospital, maybe longer, the affidavit said.
Jones allegedly told investigators her mother had been walking with a walker up until a week before she was hospitalized, and that in the last week she tried to take her mother to the hospital but her mother refused. She reportedly told deputies her mother was “very stubborn,” the affidavit said.
Hospital staff said that Jones “insisted (her mother) had been ‘just fine’” the morning she was admitted, and that Jones had not noticed any ankle or foot wounds until a few days earlier.
When investigators inspected Jones’ home, they found that the house was packed with “clutter and trash” and was only accessible by “trails” leading through it. Light switches in several rooms were taped over and several flashlights were found.
Several areas of the “passageways” through the house were as narrow as 10 to 13 inches, deputies wrote in the affidavit. A walker found in Jones’ mother’s room — along with a live goat and a brown-stained mattress pad and bed with a “gangrene smell,” and a container full of used rags and bandages — measured 22 inches across, and “would be unusable based on the homes’ ‘trail’ widths,” the affidavit said.
Investigators wrote that the kitchen was completely infested with an “extraordinary amount of mouse activity,” including cupboards taped shut to keep mouse nests from falling out, the report said.
Investigators also documented what appeared to be raw sewage in front of the home.
A deputy said that during a March visit to the property, he “observed multiple dead and decaying animals throughout the property,” the affidavit said, adding that the animals included cows, goats and sheep. “The dead animals were in varying states of decay from recently deceased to advanced decay. Dead animals remained within the pens of living animals.”
Officials from the Colorado Department of Agriculture reported that a number of dead cattle were found all in a small pen together, and one official said “he believed they were left in the mud to die” after becoming stuck in the muddy ground, the report said.
In a pit where some dead animals were piled, deputies found what appeared to be a freshly severed cat’s head, the affidavit said.
A deputy found “there were several indications of animal neglect and cruelty,” the report said. Law enforcement seized 144 head of live sheep and goats, 55 of which had very low body condition scores, and 77 appeared not to have had their hooves trimmed for several years.
Jones will be responsible to post bond for the animals’ care, or they could be put up for auction, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Trish Mahre, who is prosecuting the case.
Investigators wrote that neighbors have complained about Jones’ home since 2010.
Mesa County Court Judge Craig Henderson on Friday allowed Jones to be released on a personal-recognizance bond, but ordered that she is not allowed to possess or control any animals, to provide personal care for any at-risk adults or have any at-risk adults at her property, and that she will be monitored with pre-trial services. She will also have to submit to visits from law enforcement to ensure that she is complying with the terms of her bond.
“This is obviously a case that is quite disturbing,” Henderson said.
Jones is due to return to court June 6.
(Grand Junction Sentinel - May 27, 2016)
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