Plea Entered in Elder-Abuse Case

GLENDALE —  A man accused of allowing his 93-year-old mother to die in squalor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of elder abuse.

Municipal Court Commissioner Dona Bracke ordered Hugh McDade, 58, of Glendale to return to court Jan. 6 to schedule a preliminary hearing.

McDade was arrested last month after paramedics brought his mother, Agnes McDade, to a local hospital, suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest, and doctors saw that the woman had numerous sores, bruises and skin tears, including a large open wound on her back that was grotesquely infected, police said.

Prosecutors say Agnes McDade had suffered a debilitating fall, and was under her son’s sole care for about one month, but McDade did not seek medical care for her until it was too late. Instead, authorities said, he dressed her wounds with paper towels and used cardboard to contain his mother’s waste. McDade declined to speak with a reporter Tuesday.

He faces up to four years in state prison if convicted on the felony elder abuse charge.