The financial assistant to a man in his 70s with Lou Gehrig's disease who was allegedly attacked by one of his caregivers said the former caregiver was fired when she wouldn't stop bringing her young daughter to work with her.
"She came very well recommended," Sonja Perry said in a telephone interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Thursday, a week after the alleged attack. Perry said that at the beginning, everything was fine between the alleged victim, Gerald Sexton, and the caregiver.
Perry has known the 73-year-old Sexton since he hired her to work for his former construction company in 1993 and is authorized to speak on his behalf. She said the accused caregiver -- Marcella Ann Collins, also known as Marcella Edge, 50 -- was hired by Sexton in February.
Sexton has been diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"The first symptom he had was his foot becoming clubbed," Perry said. "We didn't know what was happening. It was about six months before they (the doctors) were able to diagnose him."
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Perry said at the beginning, Sexton felt comfortable with Collins, who was replacing another caregiver. Things began to change for Sexton, however, when Collins began bringing her young daughter to work with her, Perry said.
"He would complain to her about bringing her daughter," Perry said. "But she would say that she didn't have any child care."
Collins had been bringing her daughter to Sexton's home for the past two to three months, according to Perry. Sexton expressed to Perry that he was uncomfortable that Collins would leave her young daughter, who is around 5 years old, in the room as she worked.
"She (the daughter) would be there as she (Collins) would bathe him and change his diapers," Perry said. "That made him very uncomfortable, you know. It would have been a little different if the child was in another room coloring or playing or something."
According to Perry, when Collins continued to ignore Sexton's complaints about her daughter being in the house, Sexton fired Collins the night before the incident, saying he'd send her a 1099 form for tax purposes.
"I don't know why she did it. I don't know what led up to that (the alleged attack)," Perry said. "My main concern is that it doesn't happen to someone else."
According to Perry, Collins also worked at CHI Memorial Hospital as a certified nurse's assistant. The Times Free Press reached out to the hospital, which declined to comment.
"We do not comment on personnel matters," Karen Long, the communications manager for CHI Memorial, said in an email.
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Perry received a phone call Aug. 19 from one of Sexton's other caregivers, who found him the morning after the alleged attack with his legs higher than his chest -- a position that makes it harder for him to breathe in his condition.
Collins broke into Sexton's home at the 7800 block of Scrapeshin Trail in East Brainerd the evening of Aug. 18 and "spent approximately 30 minutes to an hour assaulting him by means of strangulation," according to an affidavit from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
"Mr. Sexton stated that he begged for his life," the affidavit said. Collins then "stuffed a rag in Sexton's mouth, pinched his nose shut and poured water in his face," while doing so, the affidavit states. Collins then asked Sexton, "Are you going to send me a 1099 now?" according to the affidavit.
Sexton then closed his eyes and pretended to be dead in order to stop the attack, according to the affidavit.
When the morning caregiver arrived at the house, she immediately called Perry, who told her to call an ambulance and the police.
"He had aspirated three times during the night," Perry said. "The look in his eyes was very sad, he was terrified."
"He's OK, we're just making sure that he doesn't get pneumonia," Perry said. "Now he has 24-hour care."
Sexton, who already had cameras set up in the house, activated the cameras after the incident and agreed to have around-the-clock caregiving service.
"He knew he was helpless, but until this incident, he hadn't realized how helpless he was," Perry said.
Deputies found several stolen items from Sexton's home along with $4,000 in cash -- which Sexton claimed he kept in a table next to his bed, and could have been taken during the attack -- in the glove compartment of Collins' Jeep, according to the affidavit.
Collins, whose home phone went unanswered and could not be reached for comment, was arrested and charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, one count of especially aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated abuse of an elderly or vulnerable person. She is out on $50,000 bond pending her Nov. 1 court appearance at the Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow her on Twitter @LaShawnPagan.