A 55-year-old woman was arrested for reportedly stealing from a relative and also attempting to discharge him from a Longmont hospital against the advice of doctors after he sustained serious bodily injury in January.
Lora Dina Gonzales was charged with caretaker neglect, criminal negligence resulting in serious bodily injury, false imprisonment of an at-risk person, criminal exploitation– $500 or more and theft of an at-risk person – $500 or more.
Gonzales is set for a status conference at 1:30 p.m. on July 25 and was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond, according to court records.
According to an affidavit, on Jan. 31, officers were dispatched to a trespass at Longs Peak Hospital at 1750 East Ken Pratt Blvd.
Hospital staff reported that a guest of a patient was interfering with patient care and was refusing to leave. Upon arrival, officers were notified by security staff that Gonzales was claiming to be the medical power of attorney over her relative but had not produced any documents to prove it to the hospital, according to the affidavit.
When police made contact with Gonzales, she told them that she wanted her relative discharged from the hospital and said that the hospital wanted her to leave because she was “being very verbal about her demands they stop giving him the medication.”
A nurse told police that her relative was admitted into the Longs Peak Hospital Emergency Department on Jan. 29 for an illness and if he did not receive these antibiotics soon, “he would go septic and likely die of organ failure.”
The illness was redacted in the affidavit.
The nurse also told officers that there was a possibility that Gonzales’ relative would need surgery because the infection may have already gone into the bone.
According to the affidavit, Gonzales was initially okay with her relative’s treatment, however, the longer she was there, “the more she escalated.”
The nurse told police that Gonzales tampered with her relative’s IV machine and claimed they were poisoning her son. Gonzales eventually told nurses she wanted her relative discharged so she could take him to Denver Health.
The nurse also learned from the hospital social worker that the relative was previously offered long term care but Gonzales had declined this care and on multiple occasions removed him from other care facilities, according to the affidavit.
On April 29, a doctor filed a serious bodily injury statement, stating that the injury created a substantial risk of death and a substantial risk of permanent disfigurement and that “the infection may fail treatment and become systemic, life-threatening, and that the wound would unlikely heal to normal tissue.”
When officers requested that Gonzales present medical power of attorney documents to prove that she was her relatives caretaker. Subsequently, she presented documents that were dated July 20, 2022 and Jan. 2, 2024. However, the documents were dependent on the relative’s capacity to make informed decisions.
Officers then filled out medical information release forms to be signed by the relative, and once Gonzales was no longer in a position to make medical decisions for him, Longs Peak Hospital requested that she be removed from the facility as she was trespassing, according to the affidavit.
Police later learned that Lora and her relative had been homeless and living out of her car since September 17, 2023.
According to affidavit, Gonzales “continued to exacerbate (the injury) by living in the car and refusing to allow for movement out of the car as often as would be appropriate and necessary.”
Additionally, police noted that Gonzales indicated that she had no income besides her relative’s social security income, and admitted to using these funds for gas, food for herself.
Gonzales continued to withdraw these funds after her relative was not even in her care any longer and has not provided those funds to the facility caring for him, according to the affidavit.
