Bond reduced in Aurora elder abuse case
A judge reduced bail Thursday for three Aurora siblings accused of abusing and neglecting their 77-year-old mother to the point where she was covered in bedsores and maggots and had gangrene so severe that her right leg had to be amputated below the knee.
Connie, Alan and Kevin Roberson, all of the 1100 block of Randall Lane, have been held at the Kane County jail on $250,000 bail since their arrest Oct. 2 after paramedics were called to their residence and discovered Martha Roberson living in squalor.
Kane County Chief Judge Keith Brown lowered bail to $50,000 for each of them, meaning each must post $5,000 to be free pending trial.
The trio is charged with neglecting the woman from June 2011 through Oct. 2. The felony carries a top sentence of five years in prison. Probation also is an option.
Attorneys for the Robersons argued to Brown that bond was excessive and unreasonable.
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Deb Bree opposed the bond reduction. Bree showed Brown photos of the woman's injuries and described the filthy scene paramedics found.
“There were unknown types of bugs crawling in her hair,” Bree said about Martha Roberson, who authorities say was confined to a love seat and also had scabies, gangrene, bedsores, large open wounds and maggots crawling on her.
Bree said doctors amputated the woman's right leg below the knee and she would scream in pain any time she moved her body after being taken to a hospital.
Bree said the woman has since been discharged, moved to a rehabilitation center. The state appointed a guardian for her.
Neither Connie Roberson, 51, nor her brothers Alan, 54, and Kevin, 42, were expected to post bond Thursday.
If released, they are to have no contact with their mother, who will turn 78 in December, and be placed on electronic home monitoring.
All three are due in court again on Dec. 15.