A charge of abusing an incapacitated adult was dismissed last week against the second of two defendants charged in a Gloucester elder abuse case.

The charge against GiGi Garner, who held the incapacitated person’s power of attorney, was dismissed last Thursday after substitute Judge Thomas Nance found there was reasonable doubt that Garner caused the problems that led to the death of 87-year-old Regina Wynn.

Wynn, who had dementia, died about a month after she was hospitalized with severe pressure ulcers, according to testimony. Medical personnel testified she was dehydrated, malnourished, unclean and "generally in poor condition" when caretaker Erick Wilson took Wynn, his aunt, to a Richmond hospital for treatment.

Wilson also faced a charge of abusing an incapacitated adult, which was dismissed after a day-long trial in Gloucester Circuit Court on July 12. According to testimony in those proceedings, Wilson cared for Wynn during the day but she was often in Garner’s care at night.

Wynn’s $2,300 in monthly social security payments was deposited into a bank account held jointly by Wilson and the victim. Wilson then paid $1,400 of the money to Garner monthly. A Gloucester Sheriff’s investigator who examined the financial records said there was no evidence that any of the money went toward medical expenses for Wynn, and that a bill from Wynn’s rehabilitative stay at a local convalescent center had gone to collections.

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