WHITTIER >> Community leaders and neighbors of a 76-year-old former Whittier resident with dementia, who was allegedly abandoned in England by his wife and son, said they were saddened, shocked and horrified upon learning about it from a BBC documentary.
British authorities returned Earl Roger Curry, who had lived in a home in the 14800 block of Janine Drive for more than 15 years, to the United States in July of 2016. Curry had been discovered allegedly wandering the streets in Hereford and was later hospitalized, according to the BBC story and the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Guardian’s petition for conservatorship.
The BBC documentary alleged that Curry’s family simply left him in England, though no charges have been filed against them. Curry’s son, Kevin, has denied the allegation against him and his mother, Mary, which was also noted in the county documents. Curry allegedly was abandoned in the countryside and discovered by Simon Hayes, an apparent stranger, but later British officials discovered that Kevin Curry allegedly instructed Hayes to claim he had found “Mr. Roger Curry wandering in the streets,” Deputy Director for the county Office of Public Guardian Connie Draxler wrote.
Curry’s family members could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Curry spent months at a nursing home in central England as British police investigated his origins with help from Interpol. All he could recall was his name was “Roger Curry,” according to the documentary.
With few clues, investigators made an international public appeal last March for help identifying the man, and internet detectives around the world took up the challenge.
One woman came forward to say she had gone to high school with Curry.
Authorities eventually figured out that Curry lived in Whittier, where some neighbors told the BBC that he often roamed the neighborhood in a disoriented state.
The LA County public guardian said it was examining the circumstances of how Curry came to be on his own in Britain.
“I was in shock,” said Enio Iezza, whose house is just behind the Curry’s home. “It surprises me that his son could do that.”
Iezza, who said he didn’t know the Currys had a son, described them as a quiet family. They had moved away a couple of years before the house – still owned by the Currys – burned down in 2014.
A contractor, who declined to give his name, said there are plans to rebuild the house.
Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatieri called the story troubling.
“This is your father and what we do when your family gets older is take care of them,” Vinatieri said. “This is an extreme case of not doing what you’re supposed to do for family. I went though this with my dad and you do what you need to do.”
Leighton Anderson, a board member for Whittier Union High School District agrees.
“The idea of abandoning a relative because of mental incapacity is horrifying to me,” Anderson said. “It could happen to me one day.”
The county Public Guardian’s Office will seek permanent conservatorship on April 14 in Probate Court. Curry is now under a temporary conservatorship and living at Simla Villas; a board and care facility in Bellflower.
Curry retired from Kaiser Permanente Hospital where he had worked as a nurse.
“No one in his family is prepared to accept responsibility for him,” Draxler said. “ His own wife and son abused him when they took him overseas only to abandon him there. He is clearly unable to provide properly for his needs for health, food, clothing and shelter.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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