2 CNAs charged with alleged assault of patient to get $10K in legal defense funds from DFA

By Cristina DC Pastor

Two Filipino certified nursing assistants (CNAs) — Dhenmark Francisco, 28, of Toms River, N.J., and Jovi Esperanza, 31, of Beachwood —  are currently held at the Ocean County Jail charged with alleged assault of a patient.

Francisco and Esperanza were each charged with Aggravated Assault in connection with an incident that occurred at the Crystal Lake Rehabilitation Facility where a patient had been assaulted on October 14, 2024. Both men worked at the rehab center.

“An investigation by the Berkeley Township Police Department Detective Bureau determined that on October 14, 2024, at approximately 11:45 a.m., a 52-year-old male patient was assaulted by two Certified Nursing Assistants who were employed by the facility,” according to a press statement from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The statement identified Francisco and Esperanza as the “CNAs responsible for assaulting the victim.” The statement posted on Facebook came from Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Berkeley Township Chief of Police Kevin Santucci.

The patient was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, and then transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick for treatment of his injuries. The statement said the patient is listed in “critical but stable condition.”

Activists from Migrante New Jersey and supporters of the two CNAs decried the allegations saying the two acted in “self-defense.”

“On October 15th, Dhenmark and Jovi were wrongfully arrested despite acting in self-defense at Crystal Lake Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center,” says a statement from Migrante NJ sent to news organizations. They said the two are currently held in ICE detention.

For more than two months since the incident, Migrante NJ and the Philippine Consulate have been locked in disagreements over alleged inaction and confusing response by consular officials. The activists singled out Vice Consul Paolo Mapula who is the head of the Assistance to Nationals unit that assists Filipinos “in distress.”

The activists held a rally outside the consulate office on Fifth Avenue where they claimed the family and friends of the accused were denied entry to a scheduled December 20 meeting with Mapula.

“Francisco and Esperanza’s friends and family had been campaigning since October for the two migrant workers’ release from ICE detention and, with support from migrant worker organizations and advocates, applied for the Philippine government’s ATN fund which the (consulate) claims is set aside for nationals ‘in distress,’ such as those facing legal or immigration problems,” they said in a press statement.

The group of supporters is demanding the consulate “release the approved ATN funds directly to the friends and family who have been morally and financially supporting Dhenmark and Jovi.” The amount is $10,000.

Mapula denied Migrante’s accusations their representatives were denied entry at the consulate office. When contacted by The FilAm, he said, “Obviously, these are not true at all. We only invited two people to the meeting in order for the discussion to be expedited, and there was no need to have everyone in the Consulate and risk the security of the place.”

He filled in the details of the December 20 meeting.

“We called the meeting to look for a way to disburse the check for $10,000.00 taken from the Legal Assistance Fund of the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs). It was granted to help in Dhenmark and Jovi’s criminal case. They did not demand that. It is part of our Assistance to our Nationals. But we cannot disburse it to anybody other than the beneficiaries for obvious government auditing reasons. So we called the meeting to discuss that and only that,” he told The FilAm.

“Since going through ICE to disburse the check would take a longer time, we agreed to explore the possibility of disbursing it to their relatives and then they can dispense of the amount as they wish,” Mapula continued.

He said “all Filipinos in distress” can ask for financial assistance through the DMW (Department of Migrant Workers) office in the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C.

The funds are for “OFWs, meaning those who went through the POEA and OWWA. The requirement is that the Filipino is in distress, indigent, and has exhausted all possible sources of funding. We assist them,” said Mapula. “The DFA also assists overseas Filipinos who do not fall under the OFW category.”