California case of siblings who forced developmentally disabled sister to live in shed will go to trial

From the San Jose Mercury News:

A San Mateo County Superior Court judge decided Dec. 4 that the case of two siblings accused of making their 58-year-old developmentally disabled sister live in a shed behind their North Fair Oaks home will go to trial.

Judge James Ellis also declined to lower bail from $250,000 for 46-year-old Bertha Lozano and her 53-year-old brother Jesus Ramirez. The defendants remain in custody.

Lozano and Ramirez pleaded not guilty Nov. 20 to one count of neglect of a developmentally disabled person and one count of embezzlement, both felonies, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Their sister, who is diagnosed with mild mental retardation and a psychotic disorder, is believed to have lived in an 8-by-12-foot metal shed in the backyard of the family's Redwood City home for an undetermined period of time.

Among the items found in the shed when sheriff's deputies investigated were a mattress with a thin blanket, a portable toilet unattached to running water and a space heater, San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Myers testified Wednesday.

A Barbie doll and coloring book were also present in the shed, Myers said.

The case came to light around 5 p.m. Nov. 18 when sheriff's deputies responded to the house at 698 MacArthur Ave. to investigate a separate incident, Sheriff's Detective James Gilletti said.

Myers said he was standing in the home's kitchen when he saw the developmentally disabled woman waving to him. He went outside and found her shivering and dressed in a thin nightgown, he said. Myers said he asked her what she was doing, and she responded, "I live here."

She looked "frail," Myers said.

Myers said she also told him she received $700 a month from Supplemental Security Income, which she and Ramirez would cash together downtown.

Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Hill, who presented the case Wednesday, said no bank account had been established in the name of developmentally disabled woman and she was not benefiting financially from cashing the checks with her sibling.