A man whose elderly mother was found living in unsanitary conditions has now been indicted by a grand jury for causing injury to the elderly.

He is 46-year-old Alan Ray Hartzel.

His mother 74-year-old Jean Gordon Hartzel was allegedly dehydrated and malnourished when emergency personnel found her on February 21.

Alan had called 911 to their Fifth Street Home around 1 p.m. The personnel who responded called the Port Arthur Police Department as soon as they arrived.

After officers investigated, they issued an arrest warrant for Alan who was his mother’s sole caretaker.

Jean was alive when EMS arrived, but she later died at Southeast Texas Hospital. Medics said she was living in poor conditions and feces and other bodily fluids were on her bed.

Police also noticed an open bedsore while Jean Gordon Hartzel was at the hospital. Nurses told officers the type of bedsore she had resulted from going long periods without medical care.

Meanwhile, an emergency room doctor said the woman showed signs that she had been neglected for several weeks.

Detective Mike Hebert called it the worst case of neglect he had ever seen, and he said other investigators and firefighters agreed.

He pointed out that Port Arthur has a large population of older people and he called on neighbors to step up if they believe someone is being mistreated. 

Alan is facing a first-degree felony charge of injury to the elderly. He was put in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on a $500,000 bond.

The district attorney’s office now has the go-ahead to proceed with a criminal case.

Disclaimer: The Accident News article you just read includes information obtained from numerous sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, websites and press releases from law enforcement, the county coroner, fire departments, and other news outlets. While we strive to provide readers with the most accurate information, sometimes the information received is not entirely accurate. For complete details, please refer to an official police report.

The articles published contain sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read by some. We understand that losing a loved one is hard and devastating. Accident News’s decision to share the stories is to help others who may be facing the same situations by providing appropriate resources to the general public.

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