Woman pleads guilty to mistreating elderly charge

A 22-year-old Morgan City woman pleaded guilty recently to the charge of cruelty to the infirmed stemming from her Aug. 4, 2014, arrest by Morgan City police.
The charge stems from a case in which the woman and her sister were accused of leaving the victim, whom they were supposed to be caring for, alone and neglected at a Morgan City residence so much so that the victim became emaciated and had hardly eaten anything over a three-month period, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records.
Bethany Daigle, 22, of the 600 block of Arenz Street in Morgan City, pleaded guilty March 10 in drug court for the 16th Judicial District on the felony charge of cruelty to the infirmed and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sale to minors, according to clerk of court records. She was placed on supervised probation for five years on the felony and four years on the misdemeanor.
Daigle and her sister, Heaven Daigle, 21, were arrested Aug. 4, 2014, and Aug. 14, 2014, respectively. On Aug. 4, 2014, Bethany Daigle was charged with cruelty to the infirmed, exploitation of the infirmed and unauthorized use of an access card. On Aug. 14, 2014, Heaven Daigle was arrested on the charges of cruelty to the infirmed, a warrant for exploitation of the infirmed and a warrant for unauthorized use of an access card.
On Dec. 2, 2014, Heaven Daigle pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of an access card more than $1,500 in drug court, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Saleme said.
According to the affidavit for Bethany Daigle’s arrest, on Jan. 11, 2014, Morgan City police were contacted after a relative of the victim found the woman unable to take care of herself, wearing filthy clothing and sleeping on filthy bedding.
The victim had been left alone with no assistance in a cold environment with a “strong unpleasant odor” inside the home, the affidavit stated. The woman was found “to be in a condition so frail, that you could count every bone in her body,” according to the affidavit. The police report indicated that Heaven Daigle and Bethany Daigle were supposed to be in charge of administering care to the victim as they were also living at the residence, the affidavit stated.
The two did not feed the victim as necessary and were also in possession of her SSI access card. The police report said that the victim had hardly eaten anything in the past three months and that Heaven Daigle and Bethany Daigle were supposed to pay the bills for the home, but the bills were past due, the affidavit stated.
The victim’s sister brought her to Teche Action Clinic, but when the staff there saw the condition she was in, she was sent to Teche Regional Medical Center. According to medical records, the victim was diagnosed with pneumonia, shortness of breath and dehydration, the affidavit said.
The victim told police that by Dec. 20, 2013, she had become too weak to get up from the sofa where she spent most of her time, the affidavit said. When the victim would ask for something to eat, Heaven Daigle and Bethany Daigle would tell her to get it herself, according to the affidavit.
The two provided the victim with little assistance. The victim would be left at home alone most of the day, and most of the time, the two sisters would return home late in the evenings. Heaven Daigle and Bethany Daigle were both employed and the bills for the home were supposed to be divided among the two sisters and the victim. The victim had given Heaven Daigle the authority to use her access card to pay bills and buy groceries, but had never seen Heaven Daigle come home with any groceries. Additionally, the power to the home had been turned off, the affidavit stated.
Although the victim authorized the use of her card, investigators said in the affidavit that not many of the purchases would have been to her benefit.
There were five inmate payments, which the victim did not authorize, totaling $1,128.45 along with six ATM withdrawals totaling $1,163.75 that the victim also didn’t authorize. A total of $2,835.26 in unauthorized charges made to the victim’s card. The victim indicated that she had only authorized one purchase in the transaction summary, which was from Danny’s Fried Chicken, the affidavit said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com