Prosecutors Say Man Abandoned Elderly Mother in Chair for Two Weeks

A Texas man who was arrested on charges of injury to an elderly person tried to get a plea deal to avoid prison time — and a judge rejected him.

Alvin Ray Riggs, 53, appeared in court on Friday after he and his defense attorney presented a plea deal in the hopes that he would be sentenced to probation. Riggs was arrested in March after he brought his mother to the emergency room and medical staff alerted authorities to possible neglect.

According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Riggs” mother was in her son’s care when he allegedly left her in a chair for about two weeks. He told police that his mother, who was diagnosed with dementia years ago, was “crazy and mean” and would “fight” him when he tried to bring her to the bathroom.

The affidavit said that when the woman’s clothing was removed at the hospital, her “skin came off with the clothes she was wearing.”

According to courtroom coverage by local ABC affiliate KLTV, Riggs and his attorney proposed a plea deal that would yield a sentence of probation. District Judge Kerry Russell, however, reportedly told Riggs that the pre-sentencing report he read about the case was one of the worst he had ever read, according to KLTV. Russell rejected the plea deal, leaving the possibility open to a sentence of probation, but it would have to be decided by a jury.

A trial was scheduled for Sept. 15.

The affidavit from Riggs’ arrest in March describes the conditions he kept his elderly mother in while she was under his care in his home in Longview. According to police, the woman was admitted to a hospital in February with a number of sores from sitting in her own waste. Her clothing, including seven shirts, was “stuck on her” and had to be cut off when medical found that peeling her clothing off was causing more open wounds.

The woman was diagnosed with septic shock, a urinary tract infection, blood clots, and other health issues. Medical staff informed Riggs that his mother’s conditions could be “terminal,” and he was described by a member of the staff as having a “flat affect” while speaking with them.

According to police, Riggs said his mother was diagnosed with dementia seven to eight years prior and began living in his home three years before he brought her to the hospital. When Riggs was asked by police how his mother was doing, he said she was “sitting in the hospital with ‘dementia like crazy.'” He further described as being “crazy and mean.”

When asked why he did not take his mother to use the bathroom, Riggs said that if anyone tried to that, she would “fight you.” He told police he did not attempt to clean or bathe his mother because she “always took care of herself.”

Riggs was booked into Smith County Jail after he was arrested in March. He was being held on $2.5 million bond before he was released from custody in July. He is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 15.