A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to a prison term that could last up to eight years after she was found guilty of neglecting her wheelchair-bound mother, leading to the elderly woman’s death from sepsis. The tragic case unfolded when authorities discovered the victim in distressing conditions, suffering from severe neglect.

Colleen Sayegh, aged 38, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday for the felony charge of negligent care of a dependent person, according to Blair County Prosecutor Peter Weeks. Her prison sentence ranges from 15 months to eight years. The alarming situation came to light following a 911 call on July 19, 2022, concerning the victim, who was reported to have non-healing sores, as detailed in the probable cause arrest affidavit.

When officers arrived at the residence located on Mill Hill Road in Woodbury Township, they found the elderly woman barely responsive. She was afflicted with multiple open wounds, including a significant one on her back the size of a fist, as described in the complaint. The victim was also dehydrated, with dangerously low blood pressure, and her right side was covered in foul-smelling open wounds, indicating she had not been repositioned for some time. Paramedics noted her clothing and diaper were soiled with feces and urine.

Sadly, the victim succumbed to her condition two days later, on July 21, 2022. It was reported that she had become wheelchair-bound and experienced weakness on her right side following a stroke in February 2021.

During their investigation, authorities searched the home, uncovering squalid living conditions marked by animal feces scattered across the floor and a pervasive foul odor, as documented by the police.

Investigators conducted a search of the home and found it to be in “deplorable conditions with animal feces covering the floor and a foul odor,” cops wrote.

Troopers with the Pennsylvania State Police interviewed Sayegh, who said her mother was in a nursing home for about three months after her stroke but “insisted” on coming home. She said she felt as if she had her mother”s situation under control and would take shifts with others caring for her. Sayegh claimed the sores on the victim’s backside were about a week old and were healing, but the medical examiner opined they were older. She tried to treat the sores but they seemed to be getting worse and her mother began “wailing” in pain and unable to communicate other than answering “yes” or “no” questions.

Sayegh admitted that she had not bathed her mother, who also suffered from diabetes, in months and had not taken her to a doctor in over a year.

An autopsy determined the victim died of sepsis that was caused by a skin infection, likely coming from the feces and urine she was lying in, the complaint said. Had Sayegh bathed her mom and washed off the urine and feces, her chances of survival would have been much higher, the medical examiner stated.

At her sentencing, Sayegh told a judge her mother “kept refusing treatment,” a courtroom report by the Altoona Mirror said. Judge Jackie Atherton Bernard admonished the defendant, saying “we don’t even treat animals like this.”

“Your actions are selfish,” Bernard reportedly said. “You chose to take care of yourself and your own medical needs while you left your mother to rot.”

Added Weeks in a statement: “This prosecution would not have been possible without the investigative efforts of the Pennsylvania State Police and the cooperation provided by Blair Senior Services, Inc., the paramedics, and the decedent’s treating doctors and nurses. While nothing can erase the suffering of the decedent [due] to the neglect of her care, we are grateful for everyone’s efforts to hold the defendant accountable.”