‘They're Using This Woman as a Scapegoat,' Atria Assisted Living Worker Accused in Resident's Death Appears in Court

An employee for a Walnut Creek assisted living center appeared in a Contra Costa County courtroom Monday to face charges of felony elder abuse resulting in the death of her 94-year-old patient.

In a story NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit broke, Lateshia Starling is charged with elder abuse after a resident of Atria Walnut Creek Senior Living drank cleaning chemicals left out by the worker in August. The patient, Constantine Canoun, later died.

The company insisted for months to NBC Bay Area and the family that the medical emergency was food-related, namely that Canoun died after eating Hot Cheetos.

But the Investigative Unit obtained the coroner's report, which confirmed Canoun died from ingesting a liquid cleaning agent.

“Miss Starling was the only caregiver on the floor and opened the dining room doors and left them open with some food including some very spicy cheetos,” said prosecutor Mary Knox.

She said Starling left the dining room and when she returned, found the senior vomiting. 

“She took him into the kitchen and asked him what he drank, and he pointed at a caustic cleaning solution that was there. It was kept unsecured in the kitchen. The kitchen door was not locked so our victim had access to this very strong cleaning solution, and he drank it, which began burning the inside of his mouth down to his esophagus, and then into his stomach,” said Knox.

But despite the evidence, the attorney for the victim’s family says prosecutors are going after the wrong person.

“My reaction is the DA went after the low hanging fruit when it should have gone after the tree,” said Kathryn Stebner, Canoun family’s attorney in their civil suit against the company.

Stebner said Atria Senior Living, the company that operates Atria Walnut Creek, is the real culprit.

“The people who work in these facilities are also victims as well,” said Stebner. “They’re victims of not having enough people not having policies keeping poisonous substances locked up and they’re overworked and underpaid and they’re using this woman as a scapegoat.”

Atria, who until this week insisted the death was food-related, has released a statement saying, “We take any case of resident injury or death seriously. We have taken appropriate steps in response to this incident, including reviewing and reinforcing our training and policies on chemical safety.” 

The attorney representing the victims family doesn’t buy it. 

“I feel terrible that this woman is sitting in detention when frankly it should be the people who are making the money off of this and making these decisions they should be sitting in that detention room not her,” said Stebner.

Knox said the state attorney general may be the one to look at charging the company. 

Four days after Canoun’s poisoning, three other dementia residents at Atria Senior Living's location in San Mateo, Atria Park San Mateo, were poisoned. The company admitted staff there accidentally served cleaning solution, mistaking it for fruit juice. Two residents died from the poisoning. The status of the third victim is unclear.  

Meanwhile, Starling's friends and family declined to comment Monday. The hearing was continued until her family can hire a private attorney.