A Yolo Superior Court judge has set an April trial for a Davis mother and son facing criminal charges after an elderly, mentally challenged man died while in their care.
Darlene Roberta Mattos, 78, and 53-year-old James Matthew Mattos were charged in June with the Oct. 27, 2012, death of Cecil Wachholtz, who died of septic shock two weeks after being removed from James Mattos’ filthy Hedy Lane trailer and admitted to Sutter Davis Hospital’s intensive-care unit, according to testimony offered in September at their preliminary hearing.
James Mattos is charged with murder and elder abuse, with enhancements alleging prior criminal convictions. Darlene Mattos faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, elder abuse and embezzlement by caretaker for alleged mishandling of Waccholtz’s trust fund. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Wachholtz, 66, who had been cared for by various members of the Mattos family since he was a teenager, suffered from pneumonia and multiple bedsores upon his arrival at the hospital, a Yolo County sheriff’s detective testified at the September hearing.
Judge Stephen Mock scheduled the defendants’ trial to begin on April 7. James Mattos remains held without bail at the Yolo County Jail, while his mother is free on her own recognizance.
