Cops: Son endangered welfare of mom, 95

A Brooklyn man twice left his 95-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, alone in her Deer Park home, violating an agreement he made with Adult Protective Services, Suffolk County police said Thursday.

Joseph Coppa, 57, is charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or disabled person after a joint investigation by the police department's Domestic Violence/Elder Abuse Bureau and Suffolk County Adult Protective Services.

Coppa was held Thursday night pending a $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.

On March 12 and again on April 16 Coppa agreed to provide 24-hour care for his mother, who lives in a home on West 5th Street, police said.

After Coppa twice agreed to get his mother 24-hour care, Adult Protective Services then found her on Tuesday at her home without supervision, and she was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip "for safety concerns," police said.

Police determined "that Coppa never hired a home health care aide," according to a news release.

The woman first was found April 16 wandering near her home and was transported to Good Samaritan, police said. Coppa asked that she be released to his care, police said, and he was told she would need 24-hour care.

At the time, he told hospital staff and Adult Protective Services that he had hired a 24-hour home health-care aide, police said.

He also told the staff and the agency the same thing on March 12, police said, after she was found living in unsanitary conditions in her home. At that time, police said, Coppa signed an agreement that he had 24-hour care in place and declined to put her in a nursing home.