A Villager has been arrested in an alleged attack on an 88-year-old patient at a memory care facility.
Michael Samuel Moretti, 75, of the Village of Fernandina, was taken into custody on Friday on a felony charge of battery.
The arrest stems from an incident in July at a memory care ward at a local assisted living facility, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The name of the facility was redacted from the arrest report. At the time of the alleged attack, Moretti’s wife was also a patient at the same facility.
The “mentally diminished” 88-year-old man walked into Moretti’s wife’s room “by accident” and was “escorted away.” The arrest report indicated the man frequently wandered into other patient’s rooms. Moretti said he was afraid the man would “sexually batter” his wife and demanded that the facility’s staff keep him away from her.
However, on one occasion, the situation apparently escalated and Moretti seized the elderly man’s cane. He “speared” the older man and pushed him backward 10 feet into a wall. Staff intervened to break up the altercation. Moretti allegedly said, “he would have done further harm to the victim if he had been allowed,” the report said.
As the result of an investigation, the Philadelphia native was taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. He was released after posting $2,000 bond.
