Santa Ana nursing home caretaker gets one year in jail for raping an elderly woman with dementia

Juan Sandoval, 35, of Orange, a nursing home caretaker, was sentenced to only one year in jail after sexually assaulting an 87-year-old woman with dementia at a senior living facility in Santa Ana.

Sandoval pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony charges including assault with the intent to commit a sex offense and sexual battery on an institutional victim. A felony count of a lewd act with a dependent adult by a caretaker was dismissed, as part of a plea deal.

In addition to serving 364 days in jail Sandoval must also participate in a sex offender program and he will be placed on six years of formal probation. He has until Oct. 13 to report to jail.

The SAPD sent officers to the Sunflower Gardens Senior Living Facility in Santa Ana on Feb. 25, 2021, at 12:37 p.m. after an allegation that a caretaker at the nursing home had sexually assaulted a resident earlier that day.

Sandoval took the victim down a hallway into a bedroom, where he then sexually assaulted her. Sandoval somehow neglected to close the door and a co-worker who happened to be walking by confronted him. Sandoval then put his pants back on and he left the room, according to police investigators.

A supervisor was alerted by the coworker. When the police officers arrived, Sandoval was still on the job and was promptly arrested without incident.