Jan 24, 2020 3 min read

The Vestaburg woman charged with neglecting her care-dependent sister and allegedly keeping her in a cage-like enclosure appeared Friday for her preliminary hearing without an attorney.

Regardless, Leona Biser opted to waive her charges to Washington County Court of Common Pleas, avoiding a preliminary hearing before District Judge Joshua Kanalis.

Lead prosecutor Patrick Schulte, a senior deputy state attorney general, said he made sure Biser understood her rights before she waived her case to the higher court.

“When the vulnerable among us are neglected and no one is going to act, including the family members, the attorney general’s office will,” Schulte said following the court procedure in Centerville.

Biser, 51, was arrested Jan. 15 by the attorney general’s office on charges of neglect of a care-dependent person, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and unlawful restraint. She is free on $50,000 unsecured bond.

The criminal complaint in the case was amended Friday to change the neglect charge to a felony count of endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person for whom she is responsible. Another charge of engaging in a course of conduct or acts that serve no legitimate purpose was also added to her criminal complaint, online court records show.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Human Services said Thursday that it was investigating to determine why it took three months from when one of its contractors discovered the victim living in deplorable conditions to alert the department of the neglect.

“We are looking at this case to determine why earlier intervention did not occur and will apply any lessons learned to future investigations,” said Erin James, press secretary for the department.

An investigator from its Adult Protective Services contractor discovered the sister, Loretta Lancaster, 53, in a cage Aug. 23 with only a dirty mattress in Biser’s duplex at 29 Sixth St. in Centerville Borough. Evidence showed her medical condition had deteriorated and that she was being fed milk in a baby bottle and denied solid food.

Lancaster has since been taken to a Pittsburgh personal care home under a court order, and her condition has been improving, court records show.

Biser told investigators that she kept her sister in the enclosure to keep her from falling, court records indicate.

Biser said she denied keeping her sister in a cage as she passed the media outside of Kanalis’ office. She shielded her face with her court documents while walking past cameras.

She is expected to be formally arraigned in the case at the county courthouse at 1 p.m. Feb. 27.