A Mill Creek woman who used to work in an adult family home pleaded guilty Friday to criminal mistreatment of a 73-year-old resident who was denied medication, suffered bed sores and later died.
Beth Suzanne Knowles, 30, is one of three workers at the defunct Alice House in Snohomish who were charged in connection with the 2002 death of Adela De Los Santos.
All three originally were charged with manslaughter in addition to criminal mistreatment.
Knowles’ attorney, Guss Markwell of Everett, said that his client agreed to plead guilty “with great sadness” when prosecutors dropped the manslaughter charge.
Markwell told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz that Knowles didn’t want to take a chance of a more severe sentence by going to trial on a manslaughter charge.
Under the law, the sentencing range is between six months and one year in jail.
Judge Thomas Wynne is scheduled to sentence Knowles on July 24.
The criminal charges followed action by the state Department of Social and Health Services to revoke the license for the Alice House, one of 10 such facilities that were operated at one time by Michael Goodwill in Snohomish County.
De Los Santos, who was plagued with mental and physical health problems, was admitted to Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus in November 2002. She was in a coma, had a 105-degree temperature and her breathing was labored, deputy prosecutor Janice Albert said in court papers.
The emergency room doctor said lack of medication, liquids and food had put her into a coma and caused her kidneys to fail.
Albert alleged that the woman had bedsores and was filthy and that her eyes were matted shut by mucus and she smelled.
In the charges, Albert alleged that the three employees did not give De Los Santos proper care, and that resulted in the death.
The other two are still charged with manslaughter as well as criminal mistreatment. They are Eddie Lee Smith, 34, of Snohomish and Norma Tanya Infante, 45, of Everett.
Goodwill was not charged with a crime. Seven of De Los Santos’ children settled a civil lawsuit in 2005 against him and his company, Goodwill Care Inc. The settlement amount was $400,000, according to court records.
De Los Santos previously had been in a nursing home and developed “disruptive and aggressive behavior problems,” Albert said.
De Los Santos went to Alice House after Goodwill assured family members that his facility could handle a dependent adult like her, Albert said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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