A former caretaker at a Grand Junction assisted-living facility has pleaded guilty to neglect in the 2021 death of an 86-year-old resident, according to a Friday news release from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

Letticia Martinez, 28, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 100 hours of community service, and three years probation for her culpability in the death of Hazel Place, a resident at Cappella Assisted Living and Memory Care. Place died on June 14, 2021, after being left outside in the heat for six hours.

A joint investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Colorado Department of Law and the Grand Junction Police Department determined that Martinez and two other caregivers were responsible for Place’s death, the release stated. Jamie Johnston, 31, and Jenny Logan, 52, also were charged with neglect. Their cases are still pending, according to the AG’s office.

“This caretaker broke the trust of a vulnerable Coloradan in her care,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said. “Caregivers have a moral and legal responsibility to those under their supervision, and my office will continue holding accountable those complicit in such negligence.”

Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of caretaker neglect and a deferred sentence of negligent homicide, which is a Class 5 felony.

Place’s death showed similarities to a 2020 elder-neglect case that took place in a now-defunct care facility in Colorado Springs.

In February 2020, Margarita Sam, 88, walked unsupervised out of Union Printers Home and was found dead of hypothermia, 40 yards outside the facility. Caretakers Rosalie Warren, Asia Murray and Taquenis Eldridge were charged with neglect in Sam’s death, but the charges were subsequently dropped. The nursing home permanently closed its doors in March 2020 after the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment suspended its license.

Charges dismissed against former employee in death of Union Printers Home resident

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