Mexico declares group home owner mentally unfit

In this Thursday, July 17, 2014 photo, boys watch television in their room at The Great Family group home, in Zamora, Mexico. For more than six decades, poor parents struggling to support their children or raise troubled youths sent them to the group home in western Mexico run by a woman who gained a reputation as a secular saint. On July 15, heavily armed federal police and soldiers raided the home and arrested nine caretakers, including the 79-year-old woman known as Mama Rosa. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) In this Thursday, July 17, 2014 photo, boys watch television in their room at The Great Family group home, in Zamora, Mexico. For more than six decades, poor parents struggling to support their children or raise troubled youths sent them to the group home in western Mexico run by a woman who gained a reputation as a secular saint. On July 15, heavily armed federal police and soldiers raided the home and arrested nine caretakers, including the 79-year-old woman known as Mama Rosa. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

By Associated Press July 21, 2014 2 min read

MEXICO CITY (AP) – The owner of a group home raided last week is mentally unfit to face allegations that she frequently hit children living in the shelter, Mexico’s top federal prosecutor said Monday.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said the woman who founded the shelter where about 600 people were rescued shows “symptoms characteristic of senility.”

Authorities said over the weekend that 79-year-old Rosa Verduzco, known as “Mama Rosa,” had been released from a hospital where she received diabetes treatment under custody. Local media said she was moved to another hospital for treatment of heart problems.

Murillo Karam said many residents of the Gran Familia group home allege that Verduzco hit them. But he noted that lately, she had been too sick to move around much.

Six employees of the shelter have been charged with kidnapping for allegedly refusing to release residents and forcing them to beg for money. The six also face human trafficking and organized crime charges.