Last Friday the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office charged Leisa Anne Wagner, 51, with Assault in the Second Degree and Unlawful Imprisonment. The Prosecutor’s Elder Abuse Unit is handling the case.

“Cases like this are why we started our Elder Abuse Unit,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our community.”

On September 9, 2016, Puyallup police were dispatched to a residence after a family member called 911 to report that his aunt, Leisa Anne Wagner, was downstairs “choking” his grandmother and that she had tied the elderly woman to a chair and was beating her.

Police arrived and found Rose Wagner, 80, bound to a wooden chair at the waist with a bed sheet. Rose was crying and said that she could not breathe.

The grandson told officers he saw Wagner put a bedsheet around his grandmother’s neck and strangle her. He captured the incident on cell phone video and says it all started with Wagner yelling at her mother, “You need to stop going to the bathroom every five seconds.” and “If you don’t stop giving me a hard time, I will tie you up and lock you in here and never let you out.”

Wagner admitted using a floral sheet to restrain her mom in the chair, but denied strangling her and said the sheet was never around the neck.

Prosecutors also allege the aggravating circumstances of abuse of trust and particular vulnerability of the victim.

Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.