WINONA, Minn. — A live-in care-taker for a 72-year-old blind man was arrested and booked for domestic assault. Because the man was a vulnerable adult, the assault charge was at an elevated level. The man called police about 3:20 a.m. and reported belatedly that he had been assaulted. He said the care-taker, Maria Christina Ruiz, age 55, had struck him. There had been an argument over missing money, he said. Ruiz denied an assault, but police took her into custody because of a golf ball size lump on one of the man’s cheeks. As police were escorting Ruiz to a squad car, she suffered a medical emergency. At the hospital, police said, they learned that Ruiz had given them a false name. As a result, a charge of interferring with officers was added to a bevy of charges. Charges also included interfering with a 911 emergency call. The man reported Ruiz took his phone away.
