A West Valley City woman was charged Tuesday after prosecutors say she abandoned her duties as a caretaker of a 90-year-old woman she lived with.

The woman, 35, was charged with one count of aggravated abuse or neglect of a disabled or elder adult, a second-degree felony.

Police responded to Pioneer Valley Hospital on June 8 on an aggravated elder abuse case, according to charging documents. Detectives spoke with hospital staffers who said one of their 90-year-old patients had recently lost a considerable amount of weight, was suffering from renal failure, pneumonia and had multiple bedsores.

One of the woman's bedsores was a stage four bedsore that staff estimated would take a couple of weeks to months to develop, the charges said.

The woman was in the hospital from June 6 until June 14, when she died.

Detectives determined that the 35-year-old woman living with the elderly woman had been her caretaker for three years, according to the charges.

Police served a search warrant on the home where the woman resided, near 3300 South and 3000 West, and found the home in poor condition, the charges said.

"Black mold was growing in the refrigerator, and there did not appear to be an appropriate food supply for (the elderly woman)," the charges said. "Empty prescription bottles for (the elderly woman) were found, but no filled prescriptions were located."

— Ethan Thomas