Group Home Worker Appears in Court for Abuse Charges

Angelica Rivera, 33, was recorded abusing a patient, according to police.

A former worker at an East Hartford group home who police said was caught on camera beating up a severely disabled woman will appear in Superior Court in Manchester at 10 a.m. on Thursday. 

Angelica Rivera, 33, was fired from her job at a group home on King Street after a video surfaced that showed her allegedly attacking a developmentally disabled resident.

She is accused of kicking the woman in the stomach and dragging her by the hair sometime between January and March of this year.

The commissioner of the state Department of Developmental Services called this one of the worst cases of abuse he has ever seen.
 
East Hartford police believe there might be more videos of abuse and that other employees at the home might be involved.

Investigators said Rivera admitted to being the worker seen in the video and led them to a co-worker's home on Tolland Street, where detectives seized a computer and sent it to the state forensics lab to be analyzed.

The group home in question is run by a non-profit called Options Unlimited, which is contracted by the State of Connecticut. 

DDS has put all seven homes run by Options Unlimited on special monitoring to make sure residents aren’t in danger.

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