ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – A 21-year-old Bay area woman is facing a charge of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person after police say she beat a resident of an assisted living facility where she worked. The weapon? The victim’s leg brace.
Raven Sonota Eduardo is an employee of the Loving Care Nursing Home located at 1001 9th Street North in the city, according to a St. Petersburg Police Department report.
Authorities were contacted about the abuse several days ago. They arrested Eduardo Friday night.
“On January 29th, we got a call of a worker at an [assisted living facility] abusing one of the patients,” explained St. Petersburg PD Public Information Officer Rick Shaw. “We responded, we were able to view video and establish probable cause to a lady for hitting one of the patients with a hollow leg brace repeatedly.”
According to the arrest report, the victim, who was not identified, tried getting away from Eduardo but she followed him, grabbed his shirt and continued the beating.
Police are looking into the possibility that additional victims exist.
“We always look into that and we have assigned this case to a detective in our special victim’s unit,” Shaw said. “He’s looking into it and if anybody out there feels that they may have a relative or loved one that might have been abused by this lady — please contact us. ”
Rene Bird is the facility’s administrator. She says the facility initiated the investigation and notified police after reviewing the surveillance video. Eduardo initially told Bird the patient attacked her and she was simply defending herself.
The video proved otherwise.
Bird says caring for the elderly and disabled is a passion she shares with her colleagues. When a few of them watched the video of the assault some ‘were in tears.’ On Friday Bird called Eduardo in to work under the guise of working an extra shift. When she arrived, police placed her in handcuffs.
She was booked into the Pinellas County Jail where she is being held on a bond of $50,000. In July Eduardo was arrested by Largo Police for resisting an officer without violence.
