Son failed to care for father, sold his painkillers, charges state

SALT LAKE CITY — A Glendale man faces felony abuse and drug charges after police say he failed to properly care for his 72-year-old father — leading to the man's death — and sold the man's prescribed painkillers for extra cash.

The 72-year-old man had several bedsores, was severely dehydrated and covered in dried feces when he was admitted to the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center on July 15, according to charges filed Thursday in 3rd District Court.

He died the following day from dehydration, malnutrition and bedsores resulting from inadequate care, the charges state.

Alphonso Patrick Moya Jr., the man's 49-year-old son, was his primary caregiver. When police responded to Moya's home at 1082 S. Glendale Circle on July 16, they detected "a very strong odor of bleach, feces and decomposing tissue," according to charging documents.

The bedroom Moya's father had occupied had been thoroughly cleaned. Police found the mattress the man had been using outside by the garbage can "saturated with urine and feces," the charges state.

Moya told police his father had not had a bath or shower for about two weeks, the charges state.

Police said Moya also had been filling his father's monthly Lortab prescriptions but was selling the pills.

The 72-year-old man's bedsores — including one on his lower back approximately the size of a fist — would have required surgery to remove, charges state. When he arrived at the hospital, his legs, ankles and feet were swollen to twice their size. He was unable to talk or stand on his own, the charges state.

When the father last visited the hospital, he was able to walk with assistance and speak, according to the charges.

Moya is charged with aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult and distribution of a controlled substance, both second-degree felonies.

— Jared Page