A Thermopolis woman accused of neglecting an 87-pound elderly man with cerebral palsy in her care who’s mostly deaf, mostly blind and wears adult diapers that allegedly hadn’t been changed in 10-14 days has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The deal would knock down a felony charge of intentional neglect of a vulnerable adult to a misdemeanor neglect charge.
Under the deal, Colleen Blakesley, 67, will plead guilty or no contest to the lesser charge and, if the judge follows the sentencing recommendation outlined in the agreement, avoid jail time and have a year of unsupervised probation.
A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but acknowledges there’s enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Had she been convicted of the felony, Blakesley faced up to 10 years in prison.
She had a hearing on the plea Friday, but paperwork on whether the deal was accepted, and if so, if sentencing had been set, hadn’t been filed by Monday, according to the Hot Springs County District Court.
A call to the county attorney to clarify wasn’t immediately returned. This story will be updated when the results of Friday's hearing are available.
Started With A DFS Report
The man’s condition came to the attention of the Thermopolis Police Department on Feb. 24 when a doctor doing a home visit for the man reported his condition to the Department of Family Services, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Sgt. Nicole Andersen filed in the case.
Andersen and a DFS agent “received a complaint regarding an elderly male being neglected,” the affidavit says. “The complaint included that the male, who wears diapers, had not been changed for 10-14 days. This complaint came from a trained professional.”
They arrived to be hit with “a pungent, strong, foul smell in the home, although the living room area seemed relatively clean,” the affidavit says. “At this time, the victim … was in clean clothes.”
The elderly man isn’t vocal, and a family member told Andersen that he’s deaf, nearly blind and that they communicate with him by tracing letters in his hand, she wrote.
“I observed Robert was very skinny and not mobile,” she added, later documenting that at the hospital, the man “weighed approximately 87 pounds at the time of admission.”
Man Was Combative
Blakesley is the legal caregiver for the man, Andersen wrote, adding that Blakesley said he was last changed three days before.
“Upon speaking with Colleen, she advised she had last changed his diaper on Sunday afternoon, but also stated that he had been in the clothing he was observed in by the complainant for approximately two weeks due to him being combative and her not being able to change him,” according to the affidavit.
Blakesley also told police she was aware that the man had multiple sores on his body and had not seen a doctor since August 2024.
While Andersen observed the man in clean clothes, that wasn’t the case when the visiting doctor was at the home earlier that day, the affidavit says. The doctor also provided a photo of the man’s condition.
“In this photo, I observed (the man’s) pants to be extremely soiled and having the appearance of being wet, along with stains on his shirt — to include what appears to be staining near the bottom of the shirt of urine, feces, or both,” the affidavit says.
As the man was transported to a local hospital by ambulance, “I was advised that his condition was highly concerning to both EMS staff and the doctor,” Sergeant Andersen wrote. “I took photos of his wounds while in the hospital, while wearing protective gear as there was a concern of scabies.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
