Rochester roommates sentenced to prison for abusing disabled woman

Three Rochester residents have been sentenced for allegedly beating and starving their 58-year-old mentally disabled roommate.

Yolanda L. Whitten, 52, and Brandon A. Aquino, 48, who are siblings, each pleaded guilty Monday in Thurston County Superior Court to one count of second-degree assault/domestic violence. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed a charge of second-degree criminal mistreatment.

Robert J. Whitten, 68, who is married to Yolanda Whitten, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree criminal mistreatment. He was sentenced in September to six months in jail and one year of probation. Prosecutors dismissed a charge of second-degree assault/domestic violence.

The three defendants were arrested in May. Two months earlier, Adult Protective Services had received a report from a witness who saw an older woman get slapped across the face at a home in the 18200 block of Bend Street Southwest. The woman is developmentally disabled and cannot read or write, according to the agency.

Upon visiting the home, a Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy saw the woman was wearing a neck brace and had two black eyes along with bruising around her nose. She was transported to a hospital where nurses confirmed she had a fractured vertebrae and a broken nose as well as severe malnutrition, according to court documents.

The woman told investigators that Aquino caused the neck injury by grabbing her by the throat and shoving her against a wall, causing a bone in her neck to pop out. The woman said her roommates pushed the bone back in and put a neck brace on her, according to court documents.

In addition, the woman said all three roommates would spank her with a wooden paddle and refuse to let her eat for long periods of time, according to court documents.

Yolanda Whitten was sentenced to 12 months in prison and 18 months of probation. This marks the second strike offense for Whitten under the state’s persistent offender law. In 1997, she was convicted of second-degree child molestation in Mason County, and in 1999, there were five petitions filed against her to terminate her parental rights.

Aquino was sentenced to nine months in prison and 18 months of probation. This also marks a second strike for Aquino, who has a 1991 conviction in California for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

At Monday’s court hearings, Judge James Dixon repeatedly stressed that the sentences for Aquino and Whitten were the maximum sentences allowed by law. Dixon emphasized several times that the court has no authority to impose stricter sentences.

Considering the seriousness of the allegations, deputy prosecuting attorney Megan Winder said Aquino’s sentence is light, but she said the plea deal protects the victim from testifying in court.

Defense attorney Charles Lane, who represented Yolanda Whitten, said the sentencing was a “fair resolution” and said that “volumes” of information had not been presented in court. Lane described the “hoarding” living conditions inside the home where walking paths had been cleared amid piles of belongings. He also noted the hazardous stairs inside the home.

At Monday’s hearing, Yolanda Whitten sobbed as she addressed the court and said she wished she could apologize directly to the victim.

“I feel terrible,” she said. “It’ll never happen again. I’m very, very sorry.”

Last March, Yolanda Whitten told a deputy that she had been trying to care for the disabled woman, but was frustrated because the woman wouldn’t listen to her, according to documents. To get the woman to comply, Whitten would “punish her” by spanking her or making her stand in a corner, according to documents. Whitten would not allow the woman to take medications because she believed the medicine would kill the woman, and instead gave her vitamins and natural supplements.

When a deputy asked about the injuries to the woman’s face, the deputy said Whitten replied, “I told you, she is clumsy” and noted the woman had fallen down the stairs several times.

Brandon Aquino told a deputy that he had been dating the woman, but that she continued to live at the house after the two had broken up, according to documents.

Robert Whitten told a deputy that the three roommates had been doing their best to care for the woman, according to documents, but said they needed training to care for mentally ill people and had not taken the woman to see a mental health professional.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Rochester roommates sentenced to prison for abusing disabled woman."