Arrest made in 2008 rape of 91-year-old woman

TELLICO PLAINS, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Police in Tellico Plains say a Mexican man whose DNA was linked to the March 5, 2008 rape of a 91-year-old woman has been arrested in Mexico.

Investigators say Francisco Barbosa-Sanchez fled to Mexico after attacking and raping the woman in her home on South Babcock St.

Barbosa-Sanchez was tracked to San Louis, Mexico, after the vehicle we was driving was discovered in Houston, Texas. Investigators say that's where he bought a bus ticket to his native country.

He will be extradited back to Monroe County to face especially aggravated burglary and aggravated rape charges. www.volunteertv.com

This was a random attack.

You should see the number of assaults on the frail elderly that take place in Nursing Homes by their “caretakers.”

Yes, it happens. Be careful of your elderly relatives. You cannot be careful enough of their care.

To be honest they are just as likely maybe more so to be assaulted by a fellow patient. Yes I am a former nursing home employee. Tennessee does have an abuse registry with the licensing agency. In other words the nursing homes are required to do background checks on those having direct patient contact such as nurses, nurses aides, etc.

I worked in building maintenance and as a rule I refused to go into rooms especially at night unescorted and then only in a have too case. Most things could wait till morning.

That being said I do know of one nursing home cover up with a bad outcome. It happened amny years ago before the abuse laws as such started. The RN opened a door a patient was standing near and injured a patients head. The family was not notified and a relative who worked there found out via a friend telling her.

I appreciate the underpaid and overworked staff in nursing homes, but I also see the very dark side of the industry since I have worked as a volunteer for the past decade with an organization for elderly advocacy. I do have a medical background and am now retired for several years.

The number and type of injuries to the elderly is criminal. In many cases, there is no recourse for the elderly person or the family. Medication mistakes, patient transfer errors resulting in falls, neglect and outright patient abuse occurs and is frequently undetected until it is either obvious or deadly.

The staff does undergo background checks but those checks are often inadequate. There is also no care given to address bad tempers, and overworked young women coming into service with inadequate diploma-mill training and deficient people skills.

If what I write sounds harsh, perhaps it is because I have seen some horrendous injuries, and medication errors that have a caused needless suffering and death.

Not all facilities are bad. That isn’t my point. My point is that everyone has to take better care of our frail elderly whether they are our relatives, the neighbor down the street or the old man or woman down the hall in your apartment building. The elderly are preyed upon more and more by the criminal element, and now, with the government’s view toward efficiency, they are disposable.

Thank you for your good work. The support staff in facilities I’ve been assigned to monitor have been the glue holding the residents and the staff together. They are unfailingly joyful around the patients and truly caring.

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