Tacoma woman is charged with elder abuse

TACOMA – A local woman was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail after police found her elderly mother, whom she served as legal guardian, in a bed so filthy it attracted rats.

Bugs jumped from the skin of Marie Hilda Bobo, 81, and parts of her body were stuck to the rotting debris, authorities said. But she said she didn’t mind the rats, noting they fled when she shooed them.

Police and fire department rescuers discovered her plight when her daughter, 42-year-old Margaret Bobo, called 911 to report that her mother had fallen.

Margaret Bobo, arrested Thursday, pleaded innocent Friday to felony charges of criminal mistreatment, abandonment and unlawful imprisonment. She had legal custody of her mother and her mother’s income and was supposed to administer care.

Doctors at Tacoma General Hospital told police the woman suffered malnutrition and dehydration. She also suffers constructure of the legs, which means the limbs had been in the same bent position for so long, likely longer than a month, that they have locked that way, police spokesman Jim Mattheis said.

Her condition was upgraded to satisfactory on Friday.

Seattle

Officer cleared of racial profiling: A police officer who stopped a group of Asian American students for jaywalking has been cleared of racial profiling but reprimanded by the chief for being rude. The Office of Professional Accountability, a citizen oversight group in the Seattle Police Department, released a 400-page report Friday supporting only one of seven allegations. Officer Jess Pitts stopped the teen-agers because they were jaywalking, not because they were Asian American, the report said. About 15 youths were crossing an intersection near Safeco Field against the light on July 9 when Pitts used a loudspeaker to tell them to move to the curb, but got no response.

Teen charged in assault of teacher released: A teen accused of assaulting his special-education teacher at Federal Way High School has been released from detention to the custody of a California man. The boy, 15, is mildly retarded and on Thursday was found incompetent to stand trial by a King County Juvenile Court judge. On Friday, Judge James Cayce agreed to release him to the custody of Bret Harney – a court liaison employed by the Kern Regional Center in Bakersfield, Calif. – until the teen can be evaluated, treated and returned to court to face a second-degree assault charge. Harney said Thursday he planned to house the boy at a Federal Way residence equipped with electronic monitors. The boy has lived at the state-licensed home, under 24-hour supervision, since October. The boy was placed there by California juvenile officials to receive specialized sexual offender treatment. Washington state law requires the local school district to educate him. The boy, who is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 250 pounds, is accused of slamming teacher Jennifer Panico’s head against a desk, then pinning her with his knee and repeatedly hitting her in the head with a closed fist, prosecutors said in charging papers. Panico, 25, has not returned to work since the Dec. 17 incident. Her mother, Marge Panico, said Thursday that the boy outweighs her daughter by more than 100 pounds.

SeaTac

Airport employees detained: Immigration and Naturalization Service agents have detained 20 employees of businesses at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport who were in the country illegally. Ten of them had security badges that gave them access to sensitive areas of the airport, the INS said Friday, including places where planes are fueled and food is prepared. None of those arrested was a felon or believed to be connected to terrorist networks, the agency’s Seattle field office said. Employees’ immigration or citizenship status is being checked at all of the airport’s 80 businesses. The action was part of an ongoing INS security emphasis at airports nationwide.

Blaine

Border patrol beefed up: Thirty-two Border Patrol agents have been added at Washington’s border with Canada to strengthen security and to provide a faster response to illegal activity. In addition, the Border Patrol has begun installing 32 cameras on the border from Blaine to 44 miles east that will allow agents to monitor remote locations 24 hours a day. Late last month, nearly two dozen Border Patrol agents were transferred from Washington state to the southern U.S. border. The 21 agents had been temporarily assigned to Washington’s border checkpoints in October. Gov. Gary Locke and members of the state congressional delegation criticized the move to return those agents to the Southwest. This week, 100 agents were transferred to the U.S. northern border from the Southwest for at least 60 days. Bates said the stay could be longer. He said 20 of the new agents will be stationed at Blaine, with 12 north of Spokane.

From Herald news services