A state appellate court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of a former caregiver who tortured an 80-year-old man and abused three other elderly residents at an assisted-living facility in Calabasas.
Cesar Ulloa of Reseda was in May 2010.
The three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal found that "no arguable issues exist'' in Ulloa's case, according to City News Service.
Ulloa worked at between February and November 2007 and was arrested in October 2008 after an 11-month investigation. A whistleblower claimed that resident Elmore Kittower, 80, had been the victim of foul play.
An autopsy performed on Kittower, who died on Nov. 6, 2007, concluded that he had died of a blood clot in his lung. However, further investigation of his body, conducted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department after it was exhumed, revealed that the retired engineer had been the victim of repeated abuse.
"Appellant denied ever losing his temper with Elmore, punching him or kneeing him in the stomach,'' the appellate court panel wrote in its 11-page
ruling.
Ulloa was found guilty on one count of torture and seven counts of elder abuse in April 2010.
"I wish you suffer forever," said Kittower's wife, Rita Kittower, at Ulloa's sentencing last May.
