Two caregivers charged in 2023 abuse death ordered to await trial in jail

BERNALILLO — Prosecutors alleged Monday that two women charged in the 2023 death of a disabled woman in their care routinely slipped out of their ankle monitors and violated a judge’s travel restrictions.

A judge ordered Angelita Chacon, 54, and Patricia Hurtado, 44, to remain in custody while awaiting trial on charges including abuse resulting in death, false imprisonment and Medicaid fraud.

The two caregivers, who are charged in the death of 38-year-old Mary Melero, also exchanged incriminating text messages earlier this year in violation of the judge’s order that they not communicate with each other, prosecutors alleged.

“They need to be remanded into custody now,” Assistant Attorney General Gregory Garvey said. “They were fleeing the country with a woman they knew was dying in the back of their vehicle.”

District Judge Christopher Perez ordered both women remanded to custody following an hourlong hearing in 13th Judicial District Court. A trial for both women is scheduled to begin Sept. 10.

Melero’s death while in the care of the state’s Developmental Disabilities Waiver program led to an investigation into the treatment of disabled New Mexicans in the care of a state program intended as an alternative to institutionalization.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez used the word “torture” in 2023 to describe the treatment Melero received at the hands of her caregivers, who were paid under the state’s Developmental Disabilities Waiver program.

Authorities discovered the alleged abuse in February 2023 when Chacon and Hurtado tried to drive a van across the border into Mexico with Melero on the floor. Melero’s injuries included bedsores that went to the bone, open wounds that were septic and bruises from being restrained, according to court records.

Melero was taken to an El Paso hospital, where she had a heart attack and died after being taken off life support on April 7, 2023.

Garvey said that Hurtado and Chacon potentially face federal charges of kidnapping resulting in death, which is a capital offense under federal law.

“The federal government is still quite interested in this case,” Garvey told the judge. “You know they killed a woman. They tried to hide the body in Mexico.”

Hurtado’s attorney, Susan Burgess-Farrell, criticized Garvey’s argument that the women pose a flight risk because they could face federal charges.

“It’s really inappropriate for the government to argue that these ladies could get the death penalty,” Burgess-Farrell said. “I’m really quite disturbed with that statement having been made here in court.”

Attorneys for both women argued Chacon or Hurtado have showed up for every hearing and have done nothing that would hinder the work of prosecutors.

“If you look very closely at the allegations of how (Hurtado) did not comply, I do not see how that actually interferes with the prosecution of the case in any way,” Burgess-Farrell said.