A Grand Junction police car.
By: Hayleigh Wing
A Grand Junction police car.
By: Hayleigh Wing
December 15, 2022
By: Hayleigh Wing
The case is closed. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has announced that 28-year-old, Letticia Martinez pleaded guilty to neglect in the death of a resident at the Cappella Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Grand Junction. Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of caretaker neglect. A judge sentenced Martinez to three years probation, 100 hours of community service, and only 30 days in jail. With further investigation, the Grand Junction police department found that Martinez and two others were responsible for the death of Hazel Place. They identified the other two as Jamie Johnston, 31, and Jenny Logan, 52. The three women reportedly left Place alone outside in the heat for six hours. This left many disappointed, and even scared to bring their loved ones to the proper care. Caregivers are supposed to have a huge amount of responsibility and when you ignore that responsibility, things go wrong. Palisade student Tyler Berry states, “You can’t just do anything like that, it makes the place you work at look bad and even your coworkers.” Caregivers have moral and legal responsibilities to the people under their supervision, you can’t just throw that away. When the people you take care of are so vulnerable you can’t expect them to do everything themselves. Cases for the other two caregivers are still ongoing. Due to Place’s passing multiple other assisted living facilities have launched their own internal investigations to make sure everything is running smoothly. Lets hope that Place get’s her justice, and those that left her outside that day get what they deserve.