Crime & Safety

Son Arrested After 90-Year-Old Mother Found Bruised

Welfare check at Novato apartment results in arrest of 54-year-old son on suspicion of cruelty.

A 54-year-old Novato man faces a felony charge of cruelty to a dependant adult after a nurse and social worker found the man’s 90-year-old mother with bruises on her body Tuesday, said.

Officers were sent to an apartment complex in the 800 block of Diablo Avenue after receiving a call from Marin County Adult Protection Services department, Novato police Lt. Keith Heiden said. Hospital staff had witnessed verbal abuse between a man and his mother on a recent doctor’s office visit and requested a welfare check at the woman’s address.

A Kaiser social worker and a public health nurse went to the woman’s apartment at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday and found the women with bruises, Heiden said. Novato police were called and the suspect, Erich David Lerner, a carpenter, was arrested at 3:01 p.m. and booked at Marin County Jail an hour later, according to the jail booking log.

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Lerner faces one felony charge of cruelty to a dependant adult with the likelihood of great bodily injury. His bail was set at $50,000.


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